STATE DEBATES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, a bill seeking to
legalize medical marijuana in Alabama, passed out of committee this
week to return to the floor for a possible vote.

While Alabama will probably not pass the bill any further this
legislative session, it is no small feat the bill even made it out
of committee.

While Alabama has always had a strong states' rights bend in its
past, such arguments were often used as a means to justify
intolerable acts like segregation and denying blacks the right to vote.

Now, we see an Alabama more focused on compassionate care and
allowing those suffering from illnesses to maintain a dignity with
their pain management.

Medical marijuana has been shown to cause fewer negative side
effects than its corporate, prescription drug counterparts, making
it a better choice for some patients.

Fourteen other states have legislation allowing for marijuana to be
used medicinally.

No other Southern state has passed medical marijuana legislation.

To have Alabama seem to be leading the charge on this issue seems
odd, but we are happy to see progressivism and new ways of thinking
coming to a place not known for embracing change well.

The new legalized marijuana would be highly regulated and available
only to those patients for whom it is deemed necessary due to
"debilitating medical conditions" like AIDS, Alzheimer's, Crone's
Disease, glaucoma and cancer.

Considering the pain and hardship sufferers of those ailments go
through, allowing them medical marijuana to manage that pain seems
to be the kind, humane thing to do.

The states that have legalized medical marijuana have not seen
greatly increased crime rates or violence.

The streets aren't filled with drug-addled youths and spaced-out
hippies and the fabric of society still contains the strong moral
fibers that hold it together.

As far as habit-forming drugs go, marijuana is less habit forming
than many prescription pain medications like Oxycontin.

Legalized medical marijuana simply offers another pain management
option, an option that allows patients to homegrow their own medication.

The money saved from moving from expensive prescriptions to
marijuana would no doubt prove a boon to insurance companies and
these patients themselves.

The day for medical marijuana is not here yet, but we are confident
that day is coming. A kinder, more enlightened Alabama is not far away.