PATIENTS DESERVE CHOICE OF MARIJUANA THERAPY

Connecticut House Bill HB 6715: An Act Concerning the Palliative Use
of Marijuana decriminalizes marijuana as a therapy "to alleviate a
qualifying patient's symptoms of...debilitating medical conditions
(such as) cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human
immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome,
Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue
of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of
intractable spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia or wasting syndrome."

The passage of this bill will count Connecticut among 12 other states
in no longer disallowing competent adult patients from choosing
marijuana as a medical therapy for themselves. Many non-governmental
medical organizations support the medical use of marijuana, believing
patients and their physicians should be trusted to decide whether the
patient will benefit from the therapy.

Since individual liberty is both universally beneficial and paramount
to a free society, libertarian-minded people believe every individual
may choose what medical treatments are appropriate for themselves,
preferably in consultation with an educated adviser, such as a
physician. Thusly, we all bear the responsibility for making our own
medical and health decisions.

Unfortunately, HB 6715 requires "written certification ... signed by
the qualifying patient's physician stating that, in such physician's
professional opinion, the qualifying patient has a debilitating
medical condition and the potential benefits of the palliative use of
marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks of such use to the
qualifying patient," and requires the patient to present this
information to the state Department of Public Health, as well as pay a fee.

Despite nearly 80 percent support among the American people for the
decriminalizing of medical marijuana, the federal government
continues to wage war against legitimate medical marijuana patients.
In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 6-3 that the
federal government may continue to arrest and prosecute sick and
terminally ill Americans who use marijuana for medical purposes.
Justice Clarence Thomas in a brilliant and rational dissent argued
"if Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can
regulate virtually anything -- and the Federal Government is no
longer one of limited and enumerated powers...the Court abandons any
attempt to enforce the Constitution's limits on federal power ... If
the Federal Government can regulate growing a half-dozen cannabis
plants for personal consumption (not because it is interstate
commerce, but because it is inextricably bound up with interstate
commerce), then Congress' Article I powers ... have no meaningful
limits." Personal right

The reality is many seriously ill patients already make the personal
choice to use marijuana as a therapy, regardless of the law and its
consequences. Currently, the FDA infringes upon our right to
self-ownership by denying our use of non-FDA-approved therapies, as
manufacturers are not allowed to distribute them.

Libertarians see no distinction between this infringement on our
individual liberty than the recently publicized examples of
government authoritarianism: property seizure, NSA warrantless spying
and the new mandatory national ID. While FDA approval standards help
to ensure the safety and efficacy of health products, persons should
be free to opt out and utilize therapies and dietary supplements not
approved by the FDA.

Although some people will indeed make what many of us consider bad
personal choices, by trying to control their choices through
authoritarian legislation, we do them and ourselves more harm. There
are many good reasons for people to abstain from drug use, but no
good reason to initiate force against them if they choose
differently. There are significantly better ways to help persons with
drug addiction problems.

The many billions of dollars every year we spend trying to prosecute
and detain nonviolent drug offenders in an unsuccessful attempt to
prevent people from using drugs is wasteful and detrimental to our
society, not to mention to those incarcerated individuals and their families.

While our nation debates drug prohibition, Connecticut's legislature
can do something positive to help suffering patients in this state by
passing HB 6715 and allowing competent adults the choice of marijuana
as a palliative therapy for their symptoms.