IS MARIJUANA MEDICINE?

GOV. ROBERT L. Ehrlich Jr. has the power to protect the sick and dying in
Maryland from going to prison for taking their medicine. To some, the bill
legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, which has passed the General
Assembly and is before Governor Ehrlich, may seem like just another piece
of legislation.

But for me its impact will be profoundly personal.

I'm a small-town wife and stay-at-home mother of five who felt compelled to
step beyond my ordinary life of hugging my children, finger-painting,
baking cookies and visiting playgrounds and testify before state House and
Senate committees on behalf of myself and the many Maryland residents who
are forced to live in fear of a prison sentence just for trying to feel
healthier.

Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that frequently leads
to obstruction, used to leave me too sick to even get out of bed other than
to go to the bathroom or the doctor's office.

I was prescribed dozens of dangerous drugs such as Demerol and even endured
useless surgical treatments.

I spent more hours in hospital emergency rooms than I care to remember.

I eventually discovered that marijuana was not only safe, it was also the
only effective medicine I had ever tried.

Medical marijuana literally gave me my life back.

But I also felt tremendous fear of using it because this herbal remedy also
is illegal.

I was left with a terrible choice: suffer and burden my family by being
bedridden or risk arrest and jail to take the medicine that let me live.

The medical marijuana bill was named for Darrell Putman, a terminally ill
cancer patient from Howard County who was forced to fear arrest,
prosecution and imprisonment for using medical marijuana.

Mr. Putman's widow has now taken up the fight where he was forced to leave
off. He died in 1999 waiting for our legislators to prioritize compassion
over politics. How many more have to die before Maryland agrees to honor
one simple plea: Stop incarcerating patients?

As a mother, I am as concerned as any other parent about the message I send
my kids, as well as reducing the chances that they might ever abuse any drugs.

To this end, I have been honest with my kids about why I have taken
marijuana and explained that marijuana, as any other drug, can be abused.
They have no trouble understanding that it's not OK to abuse marijuana,
just as it's not OK to abuse Demerol. What they can't understand is why
anyone would want to put their mom in jail for taking medicine.

I applaud those Maryland leaders who are working to end this continuing
travesty of justice, and I believe this legislation is a step in the right
direction.

However, simply making it legal for a person to present the whole truth in
court, after suffering the very real damage of arrest and prosecution, is
not enough. It is only the very least we can do.

The continuing campaign by John P. Walters, director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy, against this modest first step toward
protecting the sick and vulnerable is embarrassing and offensive. I dare
Mr. Walters to walk in my shoes for just one day.

Those of us who need medical marijuana are not criminals. Jailing ill
patients helps no one, hurts many and puts an even greater strain on an
already stretched state budget. We can do better. I implore Governor
Ehrlich to protect the weakest and most vulnerable of our citizens by
signing the medical marijuana bill into law.