MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Our government is fighting a war against some of our most vulnerable
citizens, and U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga. can help to stop it. Until
Congress acts, thousands of Americans fighting for our lives against
deadly and disabling illnesses will remain in danger.

In 1999 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and it felt like a
death sentence. I was living in mind-numbing pain, like my feet were
on fire every day, and I was terrified about my future.

My doctors wrote me prescriptions for some of the strongest
painkillers available - drugs like Percocet, Vicodin and Oxycontin. I
knowingly risked overdose just trying to make the pain bearable. In
desperation, I even tried morphine.

These expensive, powerful drugs brought me no relief. What they did do
was turn me into a zombie, so incoherent and unable to function that I
couldn't possibly take them when I had to work. You can't host a talk
show when you're drugged out of your mind.

Life as I knew it had ended. I couldn't sleep. All I could do was cry
and think about how to end my misery. Yes, I even attempted suicide.
Twice.

Then a friend suggested I try marijuana.

Skeptical but desperate, I tried it. It was like a miracle. Three
puffs and within minutes the excruciating pain in my legs subsided. I
had my first restful sleep in months.

I am one of many thousands of Americans - people battling for their
lives and dignity against MS, cancer, AIDS and other terrible
illnesses - who have found that marijuana provides relief when
conventional medicines fail. Nine states - Alaska, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington - now
have laws protecting such patients from arrest and jail under state
law.

Many of this nation's leading medical and public health organizations
- - including the American Nurses Association and the American Public
Health Association - support allowing the use of marijuana under
medical supervision.

Government officials sometimes claim that medical marijuana should
remain illegal because there is only anecdotal evidence that it works.
This claim just isn't true. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences
issued a landmark report - which was funded by the White House drug
policy office - finding that marijuana does, in fact, benefit many
patients.

But the federal government continues to wage a war on medical
marijuana patients. Armed Drug Enforcement Administration agents have
been raiding patients and caregivers complying with their states'
laws. In one such raid, DEA agents actually pointed automatic rifles
at the head of a paralyzed woman and ordered her to stand. When she
said, "I can't," they handcuffed her to her bed.

Am I the only one who thinks this is crazy? Believe me, I am no fan of
recreational drug use, but that's not what we're talking about here.
This is about giving the sick and the suffering, who are acting on
their doctor's recommendations and within their states' laws, their
rights and their dignity.

Congress will soon have an opportunity to stop this war on the sick.
An amendment - known informally as the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment,
after its Democratic and Republican co-sponsors - will soon be offered
to the appropriations bill that funds the U.S. Justice Department.
This amendment will bar the DEA from arresting patients in states that
permit the medical use of marijuana. It will have no effect in states
without medical marijuana laws, and it will not affect laws against
recreational marijuana use.

One year ago, this legislation got 152 votes on the House floor - an
impressive start, but still 66 votes short of passage. This year, U.S.
Rep. Jim Marshall should vote for this simple, humane legislation so
that it can receive the 218 votes it needs to pass.

Don't you think seriously ill patients have enough to deal with
without living in fear of armed federal agents kicking in their doors
to haul them off to jail? Shouldn't you let Congressman Marshall know?

Montel Williams hosts a nationally syndicated talk show.