DEPRIVING PEOPLE OF MEDICINE IS INHUMANE

All responsible adults should be able to use cannabis. Nevertheless
depriving people of medicine is inhumane, even if you do not believe
that their medicine is medicine.

The right to medicate oneself is no different than the right to the
autonomy of one's own body. If adults want to grow, eat or smoke the
cannabis flowers and are not causing any harm to anyone else, then in
a free country they should be able to. Some might not like the idea of
people medicating with cannabis or simply using it to relax but then
why are they not opposed to people medicating with oxycontin or other
opioid derivatives or drinking alcohol after work?

Most people who cannot fathom cannabis as medicine do so because of
the stereotype that it is smoked, but that is not that case with all
cannabis patients or consumers. Some people prefer to eat it, and
others prefer vaporizers, which do not cause harm to the lungs. Plus,
the misconceptions that cannabis smoke is the equivalent of 20
cigarettes is a myth, if cannabis smoke were that harmful or
carcinogenic then there would be widespread cases of cannabis smokers
with lung cancer. Plus, the fact that there is not one documented
overdose fatality from cannabis, which cannot be said about many over
the counter drugs and other meds that are on television
advertisements, should be enough to change the scheduling of it from a
schedule one controlled substance by the FDA.

Cannabis has been outlawed for over 70 years and that prohibition
needs to end because it is futile and hypocritical. Our founding
fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they could see the
atrocities that our War on Drugs has done to civil liberties and
individual freedoms.

Dan Linn

Executive Director Illinois Chapter NORML

Sycamore