PASS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

I suffer from severe epileptic seizures. Over the years, doctors have
prescribed me some of the strongest anti-seizure medications
available, to no avail. I read that marijuana has shown promising
results for epilepsy patients and decided to try it.

Once I began smoking marijuana, my seizures completely stopped. I
smoked marijuana for more than a year until I started going to church.
Two weeks after I stopped smoking marijuana, my seizures came back
with a vengeance.

I'm a devout Christian. I've expressed my opinions about medical
marijuana to members, pastors and theologians from different
denominations and have found that the majority of Christians I've
talked to support medical marijuana.

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, HB642, is being debated
in the state Legislature. It would protect doctors who recommend and
patients who use marijuana for medical reasons. Please contact the
House Judiciary Committee and your representative and urge them to
pass this bill.

Fourteen other states and the District of Columbia have passed medical
marijuana legislation. But because I reside in Alabama, I am
considered a criminal for trying to alleviate my suffering. Geographic
location should never determine criminality. I am a patient, not a
criminal.

Samuel Barksdale

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