APPROVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOR PAIN

More pain clinics alone are not the answer to skyrocketing chronic
pain rates. Scientific studies and clinical observations have long
established marijuana as an effective treatment for pain. Cannabis
has shown special efficacy in treating conditions like migraine and
nerve pain that often do not respond to conventional medications and
treatments.

Current law deprives health care professionals of this tool when
compassion demands patients have legal access. Meanwhile, state
legislation that would legalize this option, AB 550, the Jacki
Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, remains stalled in the Assembly 's
Health and Health Care Reform committees, where the chairwoman, Rep.
Leah Vukmir, R-Wauwatosa, refuses to hold a hearing.

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch should pull AB 550 from Vukmir 's
committee and send it to the Assembly Public Health committee, whose
chairman, Rep. J.A. Hines, R-Oxford, has pledged to hold a hearing.

An influx of veterans is swelling the ranks of Wisconsinites already
struggling with pain and medical issues. Is the Legislature going to
let them down, too? Gov. Jim Doyle indicated he would support a
medical cannabis bill during his first campaign for governor in 2002.

Without quick action from the governor and legislative leaders, it
appears Wisconsin families who need legal access to medical marijuana
will not even see it this session.

- -- Gary Storck, Madison