'YES' TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Allowing the medical use of marijuana is a simple matter of compassion. The
reality is that most Coloradans can already get marijuana if they want. It
is hypocritical and cruel to prosecute those few it might actually help.

Amendment 20 would exempt patients suffering from serious or chronic medical
conditions from Colorado criminal laws concerning possession or use of
marijuana. It would require them to register with the state and to carry a
state identification card. It mandates that each case be re-evaluated every
year and requires that marijuana use by anyone under 18 be approved by two
physicians and by each parent.

Just as critical is what Amendment 20 would not do. The amendment
specifically forbids anyone using marijuana under its provisions from
possessing more than two ounces of pot. It does not allow marijuana use in
any setting that is in plain view, in any place open to the public or in any
manner that would endanger anyone else. It does not require health insurance
to pay for pot, and it specifically says employers do not have to make
accommodations for its use.

Does marijuana really help with long-term pain and the side effects of
treatments such as chemotherapy? Opinions differ. But clearly a number of
those suffering believe that it does.

The question then becomes: If someone seriously ill and in long-term pain
has available to them something they believe will help them, should we treat
them as criminals?

No, we should not.

Vote "yes" on Amendment 20.