MARIJUANA FOR PAIN? IT SHOULD BE AN OPTION

You may have seen them in front of stores or walking door to door
collecting signatures. Perhaps you dismissed them as dope heads, or
maybe hippies left over from the '60s looking for a nostalgic taste of
the days of free just-about-everything.

But members of the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care have done
what they set out to do. They have collected enough signatures to put
a proposal before the state Legislature that would legalize the use of
marijuana in Michigan for medical purposes.

You could call it a successful grass-roots movement.

Puns aside, this is a serious issue. Chris Killian's marvelously
informative story in this past Sunday's Gazette spoke of people with
HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and other serious ailments who
use marijuana illegally now to help them with their symptoms.
Something's amiss when grandparents have to make dope deals to find
relief from pain.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says science doesn't prove that
medical marijuana helps. Well, guess what? Science doesn't disprove
it, either, and if the sick are relieved, what is the harm?

Medical marijuana users in Michigan are lawbreakers, but they wouldn't
be if they lived in one of 14 states where the medical use of
marijuana has been deemed legal. Technically, federal law says it's
illegal in those states, too, but the feds have for the most part so
far instituted an unofficial don't-ask-don't-tell policy.

It's time for Michigan to allow those who are suffering to find some
legal relief. It is estimated that about 50,000 Michigan residents --
or one-half of 1 percent -- would qualify to light up legally. It is a
minuscule portion of the population, and it harms no one if a few sick
folks are allowed a little bong therapy.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm doesn't agree, and if legislators don't vote
the proposal into law in the next five weeks, the measure will be on
the ballot in November. Legislators, fearing repercussions at election
time for being viewed as marijuana mavens, seem unlikely to act.

So it appears the decision will be in your hands in
November.

Opposition to the proposal seems silly to the point of being
illogical. This is another example of people fearing what they don't
understand. For some, it seems the fear of the unknown runs to the
point of paranoia.

Illogical behavior? Paranoia?

You tell me. Who's been smoking what?