VOTE YES ON 13; LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

For as long as I can remember, I have been told that marijuana is a
very dangerous and harmful drug that can lead me down a path to
destruction. This may be true in some rare occurrences; but there are
also many positive uses for this drug.

The South Dakota ballot initiative 13 addresses such uses. I would be
willing to bet that a fair number of the people reading this article
have been forced to watch a loved one waste away in front of their
eyes, knowing that nothing is within their grasp that can help this
person. I personally have watched people that I care about deal with
the terrible effects of advanced multiple sclerosis and also have seen
the wasting away effect of cancer treatments knowing that nothing I
could say or do would ease the pain. While doctors have the ability to
write prescription after prescription, these prescriptions often hold
side effects that are just terrible as the original cause for the
medicine. This causes patients to be forced to consume, in many cases,
multiple medicines to the point that their medicine cabinet begins to
resemble an apothecary's shop.

Marijuana can help relieve many of the symptoms associated with a
series of diseases. It can help to prevent shaking of multiple
sclerosis, and it can also help spur appetite in terminally ill cancer
patients. It can act as a painkiller, and one of the greatest
attributes of the drug, is that it does not require any other
prescriptions to set off risky side effects, nor is it a drug that has
been developed in a laboratory. This law is about getting patients the
care they need, in order to help them through sickness and disease. It
is a law about compassion, not about trying to make a recreational
drug legal.

Opponents to initiative 13 are using scare tactics to try and stop
legislation from going through that has the intent of adding another
valuable piece of medicine to our doctor's arsenals. The website
www.vote-no-iniative-13.com has a few very hefty claims, but it seems
that the operators of the site have failed to study the piece of
legislation that they so greatly oppose. The home page reads, "If
passed, initiative 13 would allow marijuana dispensaries to openly
sell marijuana next to day care centers, schools, and next to the
town's local hardware store."

The initiative blatantly states that no dispensaries will be allowed
in South Dakota. Furthermore, the law would be the most restrictive of
medical marijuana laws in the United States. Patients would be
required to have a six-month relationship with the doctor who was
prescribing the medicine, and that relationship would include two
doctor visits. Since dispensaries are deemed illegal in the
initiative, the patient could grow up to six plants themselves, or
choose a care giver to do so for them, and in both situations the
grower would only be allowed to have two usable ounces at a time. The
caregiver would have to be approved by the South Dakota Department of
Health.

In the initiative driving under the influence of the medication is
prohibited, and so is the use of the medication around children. The
medication would also not be allowed in public areas. If any patient
is found to be violating these restrictions, they are subject to
criminal penalties. The Department of Health would have direct control
over the program, and would re-evaluate every six months whether
continued use of the medication is necessary.

I urge every voter to reconsider any preconceptions they may have
about medical marijuana. This initiative is not about putting
marijuana in the hands of anyone who wants it; instead it is about
putting the proper medicine into the hands of the patients who are
desperately looking for even a slight ease of their symptoms. This
initiative is about compassion for our fellow South Dakotans.
Remember, on Nov. 2, vote yes on 13!

Ryan Rolfs is the president of the SDSU Political Science Club.