REEFER SANITY

Medical marijuana in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor is very close to getting a local initiative that would legalize
marijuana for medicinal purposes on the ballot in November. With only a few
days of petitioning left, the local Libertarians spearheading this effort
need students and local advocates of medical marijuana to register to vote
in Ann Arbor and sign the petition that would put this issue to a city-wide
vote.

This initiative is important for the large number of Ann Arbor residents who
have found that their use of marijuana is a relief from painful symptoms
caused by a myriad of diseases. Aside from lessening the symptoms of
glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and some forms of asthma, marijuana can be used
help cancer and AIDS patients deal with the effects of powerful drug
cocktails and chemotherapy treatments. It relieves their pain, but, unlike
prescription painkillers that numb patients, marijuana allows them to live
their lives normally.

This initiative would prevent the sick and debilitated from getting fined or
thrown in jail by local law enforcement. The libertarian's plan, if it gets
on the ballot and passes by a majority vote, would allow patients the right
to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription and prevents Ann Arbor police
from arresting them.

University professor of psychiatry and neuroscience Stanley Watson, an
investigator for the National Academy of Sciences, recently agreed that
marijuana merits more medical research because of its potential in helping
people with cancer and AIDS. Aside from an outright endorsement of the
natural plant, he recommends doctors prescribe prescription drugs containing
THC, (the active chemical in marijuana) he thinks that smoking poses
respiratory risk to patients, including lung cancer. He would prefer a
vaporizer.

This is an invalid argument because marijuana has never received serious
cancer study inside the United States. A recent study in Spain found that
marijuana was highly effective in treating rats with cancerous tumors.
Surveys of Rastafarian elders, who smoke cannabis in large quantities as
part of their religious ceremonies, showed abnormally low incidence of
cancer, even when compared against local control populations. Clearly more
investigations and studies must be made before claims that marijuana fights
cancer can be substantiated, but, on the other hand, claims that marijuana
is carcinogenic are not clear either. This argument is more a remnant of the
fight against tobacco's carcinogenic potential than marijuana's and should
be abandoned until more research confirms or disproves it entirely.

It is also unthinkable to suggest that patients should pay exorbitant prices
for synthetic THC when it grows naturally and in abundance in a natural
form. Pharmaceutical companies should not be allowed to profit from outdated
laws prohibiting medicinal use of marijuana. This local initiative is Ann
Arbor's chance to give freedom to these patients and send a message that the
future of medicine does not have to be tied to profit-driven pharmaceutical
companies.

So, if a petitioner on the street asks you if you're registered to vote in
Ann Arbor, make sure you can answer "yes." Then sign the petition to help
these brave locals get the relief from pain they deserve.