MARIJUANA IS GOOD MEDICINE

Voters in the city of Detroit this month approved a measure written to
eliminate restrictions on the use of marijuana by medical patients whose
conditions can be aided by consuming the substance.

The vote makes Detroit the latest addition to a growing list of states and
municipalities that have recognized the need to make it easier to use
marijuana to quell nausea, provide pain relief, stimulate the appetite of
AIDS patients, combat glaucoma, and ease the pain and suffering of people
with multiple sclerosis.

Unfortunately, officials in many other states and municipalities cling to
the misguided notion that marijuana is nothing more than an illicit drug
that people want to decriminalize - or even legalize - so they can get
high. But there is now a broad and serious body of research that confirms
the medical benefits of cannibanoids, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Wisconsin is one of the states that have been slow to move to lift
restraints on the use of medical marijuana. But some legislators are
working to open a debate in the Badger State.

State Rep. Greg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, who chairs the Assembly's Public
Health Committee, is again proposing legislation that would allow seriously
ill or terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes if
supported by their physician.

Underheim, who sponsored a similar bill that died in the last legislative
session, has reworked the measure and said last week that he planned to
make another attempt in the coming session.

Underheim deserves a great deal of credit for taking on this controversial
initiative and for working to craft legislation that is at once sensible
and humane. Now he needs allies. Some legislators from the Madison area,
such as state Rep. Mark Pocan, are supportive. But to achieve the Assembly
majority that will be needed to advance this legislation, more legislators
are going to need to develop spines. And that won't happen unless they are
prodded by citizens who recognize that the need for medical marijuana is
genuine.