MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOULDN'T BE ILLEGAL

Michael Olesker's column "Marijuana law makes a humane distinction" (May
25) brought me to tears. I've sat with doctors, tiptoeing around the same
subject with some, completely avoiding the word marijuana with others. I've
also laid, doubled over in my bed, sobbing, and knowing that no doctor in
this state could give me a medicine that would help me feel better. Gov.
Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is to be commended for courageously signing our
medical marijuana bill. He lived up to his campaign promise to protect the
patients of Maryland, and I'm very grateful to him for his honorable stand
on this issue. Still, this bill is the smallest step toward justice and
common sense. We need to be free to be honest with our health care
providers. Honesty is a foundation for that terribly intimate relationship,
yet we're afraid our doctors will deny us care or turn us in if we tell
them we've used marijuana. I'm grateful I won't have to go to jail. Is it
too much to ask that I not be arrested, either?

Erin Hildebrandt

Smithsburg