LISTEN UP, MR. PRESIDENT

What Would You Say to George Bush If You Had Five Minutes With the
Man?

Montel William's Five Minutes

Mr. President: In the eyes of the public, I am an all-American tough guy, a
former naval intelligence officer, a motivational speaker and a TV talk
show host. I am beamed into the homes of millions of people around the
globe each weekday. I urge individuals and family members to do better, to
be better. But there is another side to my story.

For more than twenty years I have lived with a chronic, potentially
debilitating disease called multiple sclerosis (MS). I have neuralgic pain
in my feet and legs so severe that I have twice attempted suicide - the
ultimate trauma to my kids and family, the ultimate sin against God. I have
stayed awake for nights on end, rocked by violent spasms in my legs.
Physicians have prescribed myriad painkillers and antispasmodic drugs -
each more toxic than the next, each less effective than the other. I have
taken Percocet, Vicodin, OxyContin, and a morphine drip, risking overdose
to subdue the pain. Instead, I became spacey and dull. I could not
function. Something had to give. Something did. I discovered medical
marijuana, which is illegal everywhere in the country according to federal
law, even though eight states have laws in effect that allow patients to
use it without fear of arrest.

On many days, I live with pain that is a seven on a scale of one to ten,
and with nerves so raw that if you brush against me in an elevator, I just
want to scream. Medical marijuana brings that pain down to a three or four.
But every day I am forced to make the choice between criminality and
management of my symptoms.

Mr. President, I am not alone. Tens of thousands of Americans, your
citizens, make this daily choice. They are people like me who suffer from
pain and spasms from MS, wasting from AIDS and cancer, and from numerous
other symptoms. Because of medical marijuana, those of us with chronic or
life-threatening illnesses have emerged from the haze of narcotic-based or
morphine-like painkillers and other toxic medications to continue being
productive citizens.

For people like me who have been through the gamut of FDA-approved drugs
with no relief, marijuana has given us our lives back. It allows us to
sleep through the night, to gain weight and strength, to read a bedtime
story to our child, to run an office. It offers us the liberty - the
freedom to live with dignity - that is one of our inalienable rights as
American citizens.

The states with strong medical marijuana laws have built-in safety measures
to ensure that the drug is not opened up to recreational users. It must be
recommended by a physician, and, in most cases, patients must register with
a state or local health authority. There are also reasonable limits on how
much of the drug an individual or a caretaker can possess.

Mr. President, I urge you to support legal access to medical marijuana
across our great nation. I urge you to support legislation that would
change marijuana from a Schedule I drug, a group that includes heroin, LSD,
and Quaaludes, to a Schedule II drug, which includes drugs, like
amphetamines and morphine, that are prescribed in extreme cases. As a
Schedule II drug, marijuana could be prescribed by a physician - with all
the checks and balances to keep patients like me safe.

That's all I ask of you. True compassion with all the conservative medical
and legal boundaries in place. What better legacy to leave?