THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE: PRO

If you are sick or dying in Colorado, you can legally smoke
marijuana. It's a fact that law enforcement and elected officials are
less than eager for you to know.

Sadly, six years after the state's voters overwhelmingly passed a
constitutional amendment allowing the use of medical marijuana, there
is an intolerable disrespect of the will of the people - and the sick
and dying - by those in our government.

Article XVIII, Section 14 of the Colorado Constitution reads: "It
shall be an exception from the state's criminal laws for any patient
or primary care-giver in lawful possession of a registry
identification card to engage or assist in the medical use of marijuana ... ."

Medical marijuana is a recognized treatment for many of the
complications associated with serious medical conditions, including
cancer, diabetes and AIDS. It's also a viable pain-treatment
alternative for those barely surviving on conventional narcotic
therapies like the highly addictive morphine, vicodin and oxycodone.
As far back as 1997, the American Medical Association publicly
supported the right of doctors to freely discuss marijuana as a
possible therapy.

Since Colorado first implemented its program in June 2001, more than
1,340 people have successfully registered as patients, a move that
requires obtaining a recommendation from a licensed physician for
treatment of an authorized medical condition.

Registry statistics paint a compassionate picture of the average
patient, most likely a male in his 40s suffering from severe pain
(with 82 percent of all applicants approved for the registry for this
condition). Thirty percent of all patients use marijuana to deal with
muscle spasms and more than 20 percent have sought out marijuana to
help them deal with nausea resulting from another medical condition.
Thirty-two registered patients suffer from HIV or AIDS. Nearly 70
patients have died since the program began.

Interestingly, the average registry patient lives not in a liberal
enclave like Boulder or Denver, but more likely in a quieter, more
conservative place, like El Paso or Jefferson County - the two
counties with the highest number of participants.

Unfortunately, for most of these patients, Colorado officials have
only partially complied with the program since its inception. In its
first year, then- Attorney General Ken Salazar publicly urged the
U.S. Attorney to prosecute medical marijuana patients and their
approving doctors under federal law and called the voter-approved
program "an absurd and wasteful state-sanctioned protest vehicle
against federal drug laws." He also sent a letter to the Colorado
Medical Association and physicians statewide cautioning them about
federal repercussions for complying with the program.

In reality, it hasn't been the federal government or its refusal to
acknowledge the legitimacy of medical marijuana in federal law that
Colorado doctors and patients have had to worry about. Salazar's
actions alone have had an incredibly chilling effect, with patients
in rural areas reporting a difficult or impossible time finding a
recommendation.

Our current attorney general, John Suthers, has been eager to condemn
the constitutional amendment, calling it "terrible public policy" and
has said, "Medical marijuana is nothing more than a smokescreen, an
excuse for lifelong pot smokers to get high."

Like his predecessor, Suthers also attacked doctors who make
recommendations, telling KCNC-Channel 4, "No doctor in his right mind
would prescribe a medicine that is ingested by smoking." The cadre of
respected and licensed Colorado physicians who have recommended
marijuana to their patients obviously disagree.

Today, under Suthers' leadership, regional drug task forces and armed
SWAT teams are arresting law-abiding medical marijuana users across the state.

Colorado voters are not alone in their support of medical marijuana.
Poll after poll in the last six years demonstrate overwhelming
backing for legal medical-marijuana use, including a CNN/Time
Magazine survey, which shows voter support at 80 percent.

For the remaining minority unconvinced of marijuana's medicinal
benefits, think about this: Do you really want your tax dollars being
used to incarcerate non-violent and law-abiding citizens, many of
them feeble, dying or severely disabled? Regardless of whether you
disagree with the law, the fact remains that we've got more important
battles to wage.

Colorado voters spoke more than six years ago to recognize the
legitimacy of medical marijuana. Let's finally give our sick and
dying the respect of being able to treat their conditions in peace
and quiet. We must stop arresting medical marijuana patients.