MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES SHOULD REFOCUS

Protesters rallying in Harrisburg Monday for the legalization of
medicinal marijuana have a great goal in mind, even if their approach
is slightly misguided

Twelve states have already passed bills legalizing it, and
Pennsylvania would be smart to add itself to that list. Marijuana can
be an effective substitute for habit-forming painkillers with
horrific side effects.

As it stands, pharmaceutical companies and the groups that lobby for
them have way too much power in this country. While this makes the
legalization of marijuana a bit more difficult, it's also more incentive.

For that to happen, the legalization movement needs a change in
image. When people think of protesters for this cause, they don't
think of 55-year-old construction workers with torn labrums or
80-year-old grandmothers with glaucoma, which is a shame, because
those are the sorts of people who need this the most.

Instead, they think of the advocates who view the movement as a
stepping stone toward complete legalization of marijuana, the
stereotypical tie-dyed dorm room bong hitter or the burnout behind
the high school gym. This perception undermines entirely what is
otherwise a worthy cause.

Many of these sorts of protesters, including some of those who
rallied in Harrisburg Monday, need to change their approach to make
any progress on the issue.

Comparing marijuana with alcohol and tobacco, as people so often do,
is weak. Sure, marijuana isn't addictive and doesn't kill nearly as
many people as do cigarettes and alcohol, but comparing a potentially
medicinal drugs with those intended for recreational use is faulty.

The stronger comparison is with prescription drugs used for purposes
similar to the painkilling properties of marijuana.

Regardless of one's opinion on recreational marijuana use, it's
necessary to look at the medicinal marijuana use issue not as a means
to that end, but as an end in itself.

Don't worry about the intent of pain-free college kids rallying for
medicinal marijuana legalization. Instead, worry about the people in
pain whom legalization could actually help. Or worry about who it
would hurt: absolutely no one.