MEDICAL MARIJUANA MUST BE CONTROLLED

I am amazed at the misdirection in recent letters regarding medical
marijuana. It is true the voters of this great state voted for the
law; the image was one of cancer with chemotherapy and the relief of
intractable nausea. The reality?

In the first year they were issued, there were 180 cards (2005). By
April 2010 there were more than 12,000 card holders. The majority of
cardholders are between the ages of 21 and 30 with "chronic pain."
AIDS, glaucoma and cancer make up a combined 3 percent. Multiple
sclerosis makes up less than 0.2 percent. Caravans of doctors going
town to town; two-minute, video conference "office visits."

The GOP is not trying to make marijuana illegal. Their efforts are
directed at necessary control to keep teenagers from simply spending
$150 and claiming migraine headaches to get their card.

Kids forced underground to get their "young person's drug?" Nowhere
does anyone mention the parents and their responsibility for
monitoring/mentoring their children; instilling in them a sense of
self that does not require self-medication? Don't teenagers have
enough on their plate with college applications, keeping fit/healthy
(difficult if you are stoned/unmotivated), and peer issues?

To think that because you get pot from a dispensary (and I use the
term loosely), that you will not seek anything stronger, is ludicrous.
Ask addicts how many started with marijuana.

We need some controls.

Sherry Coffin

Gallatin Gateway