MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS DESERVE SAFE ACCESS AND COMPASSION, NOT
DISRESPECT

The Oregonian Editorial Board denigrated not only the supporters of
Measure 74 but also all medical marijuana patients with its recent
editorial on medical marijuana.

The editorial board purports to know the intentions of the supporters
of the measure as well as the medical condition of all 36,000 medical
marijuana patients. The board contends that all those who support the
initiative, which would establish a nonprofit dispensary program, are
really only interested in legalization of marijuana for adults and
that the 32,614 medical marijuana patients who list "severe pain" as
one of their qualifying conditions aren't really patients. No, they
must be considered less worthy than patients who use pharmaceutical
narcotics like OxyContin and Percocet. They must be stigmatized within
quotations, as "patients." And so, the board reasons, Measure 74
should be dismissed on its face.

But the board wasn't satisfied with just ridiculing supporters of the
measure and belittling sick and disabled patients. It called medical
marijuana a "charade." Apparently, the board doesn't believe that
marijuana is medicine because there's no other reason to have
quotations around "medical marijuana" and "medicine." I trust that
members of the board would deny a loved one undergoing chemotherapy
the use of medical marijuana to alleviate his or her severe nausea
because they consider marijuana a charade.

Oregon voters declared nearly 12 years ago that "marijuana should be
treated like other medicines." Fourteen states and our nation's
capitol have now legalized medical marijuana. The Oregon Board of
Pharmacy rescheduled marijuana, declaring its medicinal value. The
Obama administration has implemented a policy to not prosecute
patients and their providers. The Department of Veterans Affairs has
adopted a policy to not deny care or benefits to medical cannabis
patients. And yet, The Oregonian Editorial Board has joined
anti-patient activists in ridiculing patients battling disease,
sickness and disability.

Measure 74 will provide safe access to patients through nonprofit
dispensaries -- safe access to patients like Alice Ivany, co-chief
petitioner of the initiative. Ivany suffers severe pain from her arm
being torn off in a horrific factory accident. She has found that
medical marijuana helps relieve her pain better than other medicines.
Unfortunately for her, she didn't have access to medical marijuana for
over a year after registering with the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Program. Many patients are like Alice and don't know how to acquire
medical cannabis. Patients battling severe pain or who must undergo
chemotherapy deserve safe access and shouldn't have to grow their own
medicine or turn to the black market.

Nonprofit dispensaries and their producers will pay licensing fees and
quarterly sums equal to 10% of their gross revenue. This additional
revenue, estimated to be $20 million in the first year by the Oregon
Health Authority, will fund medical marijuana research and establish a
program to assist low-income and home-bound patients. Any additional
funds may be allocated to other health programs.

It isn't often that voters have an opportunity to demonstrate
compassion while also creating new jobs and generating additional
revenue for the state. The nonprofit dispensary program that Measure
74 would create is that opportunity and it deserves to be debated on
its own merits.

Anthony Johnson is director of Oregon Green Free Clinical Services and
co-author and co-chief petitioner for Measure 74.