LET LIBERTY TAKE A PRECEDENT IN RULING

Editor:

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon be deciding whether Proposition 215 and
similar medical marijuana laws in eight other states D Alaska, Arizona,
Oregon, Washington, Maine, Colorado, Nevada and Hawaii are constitutional
in nature.

To advocates and detractors of medical marijuana use, the impending high
court decision could have far-reaching effects. To the former it could mean
relief to millions of people suffering from the effects of old age and
disease. To the latter it could mean having to change their perceptions and
attitude about marijuana in general.

The controversy about using marijuana for medical purposes really boils
down to the age-old struggle between liberty and authority.

Liberty has always meant protection against the tyranny of political
rulers. In modern society liberty also means protection against the tyranny
of legislatures, who acting on the cultural or political sentiments of the
majority, imposes an arbitrary "rule of law" on the minority.

Marijuana is a plant that has been around longer than man. Its historical
commercial use is well known. The fact that the plant has so many uses that
are beneficial to society makes any rational being wonder why laws were
created in our country to ban its use?

In general, the odious perception of marijuana use seems to come from
people who are not familiar with its beneficial uses, companies that would
suffer from competition due to the plant's economic potential, and law
enforcement agencies whose funding and mission agendas revolve around the
current status quo of drug enforcement laws.

In particular, the legalization of medical marijuana is not encouraged by
the pharmaceutical companies because, for obvious reasons cannabis would be
competition to many of their highly priced drugs.

We have to face the fact that with old age painful medical problems develop
with the aging of the body. Pharmaceutical companies have developed many
drugs to assist people in coping with the ailments of old age, but for many
the price for these drugs is too high.

Marijuana is an inexpensive remedy for many of the pains of the body. It
doesn't take scientific research, expert medical testimony, or government
agency findings to determine the value in medical marijuana as a medicine.
Let experience be the judge.

Our reasoning about cause and effect or what we call "matter of fact" in
the scientific community, as well as in society, is based on experience.
Just because we have never seen an electron doesn't mean that we disregard
all our notions about electrical theory. For the same reason, just because
the detractors of medical marijuana can't understand how it helps people in
their medical ailments doesn't mean we should throw out the baby with the
bath water.

It seems that the stigma about marijuana dates back to the cultural
revolution of the 1960s when a generation of young people showed the desire
to break from the cultural norms of our society, and were checkmated by the
"rule of law."

We are still dealing with that "rule of law" imposed on society by a past
generation, and held in place by our stoic government institutions.

Let's hope that our high court does not occupy itself with what society
should or shouldn't accept in personal choices, but rather that liberty
take precedent over "rule of law" in personal medical choices.

Conrad L. Wareham

Kealakekua