MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS MARCH IN DOWNTOWN SAFFORD

Medical marijuana initiatives have been passed by Arizonans twice
before only to see the vote of the people not be enacted due to
technicalities.

Supporters of the use of marijuana as medicine are hoping three
times is the charm as a new initiative will likely be on the November ballot.

About 25 medical marijuana activists marched throughout Downtown
Safford on Tuesday to call attention to their desire to see cannabis
legalized for medicinal use and be federally rescheduled.

Currently, the federal government lists marijuana as a Schedule 1
drug along with other drugs such as heroin, Ectasy, LSD and PCP.
Schedule 1 drugs are deemed to have no currently accepted medicinal
use. Schedule 2 drugs, including cocaine, morphine, crystal
methamphetamine, fentanyl and hydrocodone, are classified as having
both a risk of abuse and accepted medicinal uses.

Activist and medical marijuana user Jerry Benson told the Courier he
wouldn't be alive today if he didn't smoke pot.

He said he was prescribed a litany of drugs, such as Oxycontin, that
damaged his liver and created additional health issues. He said he
was given 90 days to live, so he threw out his prescription pills
and started using cannabis instead. Years later, Benson is healthy
enough to ride his bicycle around the city.

Additionally, Benson said if doctors could prescribe marijuana,
there would be less Oxycontin and other hydrocodone pill abuse by
people in the area. He said it would especially affect the local
problem of youths who crush the pills and inject them,
essentially turning the prescribed pills into the Schedule 1 drug heroin.

Activist and medical marijuana user Charles Gilbert had his left
kidney and part of his right kidney removed due to cancer. He said
pot was more effective in helping him deal with his pain than the
Percocet and Oxycontin pills prescribed to him.

Arizona voters passed medical marijuana initiatives in 1996 and
1998. The 1996 initiative included more than 100 other drugs in
addition to pot and wasn't enacted because the state Legislature
passed a statute that overrode it. The 1998 initiative was unable to
be enacted because of conflicting federal laws
regarding physicians. The act allowed physicians to
prescribe cannabis, but federal law prohibits physicians
from prescribing Schedule 1 drugs.

Since California passed its medical marijuana initiative in 1996
that allows possession of cannabis for patients with a doctor's
recommendation, 13 other states have followed suit. States allowing
the medicinal use of pot are: California, Alaska, Oregon,
Washington, Maine, Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada, Vermont, Montana, Rhode
Island, New Mexico, Michigan and New Jersey.

Recently, the Washington, D.C., City Council unanimously voted to
allow patients with HIV, glaucoma, cancer or a "chronic and lasting
disease" to receive a physician's recommendation and possess up to
two ounces of marijuana.

Arizona's November 2010 initiative would permit patients with a
physician's recommendation and caregivers to purchase up to
two-and-a-half ounces of usable cannabis from regulated clinics.

The regulated clinics, also known as dispensaries, would operate as
nonprofit organizations. The act would also allow patients or
caregivers to cultivate their own cannabis for medicinal purposes if
a regulated clinic is not located within 25 miles of the patient.