ILLEGAL

BUT WHY?

There's a natural drug that controls nausea in cancer patients
undergoing chemotherapy. This same drug effectively controls muscle
spasms of multiple sclerosis and some seizures in epilepsy. And this
drug improves the appetite and the disturbed behavior of those
suffering from Alzheimers. The problem is, this drug is banned by the
government. Get caught taking it and you'll be arrested. This drug is
cannabis or marijuana. It is a very safe and effective pain reliever
with very few side effects.

Some cancer patients report that marijuana is the only thing that
controls the nausea caused by their chemotherapy. For some glaucoma
patients, marijuana is the only thing that keeps them from going
blind. For many chronic pain patients medical marijuana allows them to
end or reduce their use of dangerous drugs such as morphine and
Vicodin. This allows them to function far better which is wonderful
for them and their families.

My name is Tom Bauman. I live right here in Dickinson. Fifteen years
ago I had a massive stroke that ended my teaching career. I've been on
disability ever since. My introduction to the Internet in 1994 opened
a whole new world for me. The information on the web is mind boggling.
It's like having the world's largest library in your living room. One
day I read an article about cannabis and industrial hemp. I couldn't
believe what I was reading! I learned that cannabis had medicinal
uses, and the uses for industrial hemp were as mind boggling as the
Internet.

Despite all these uses and medicinal values, it's illegal to even
possess cannabis or the marijuana plant. The government classifies
cannabis as a schedule one drug with no known medical uses and a high
potential for abuse. Could it be that the government was right and all
these experts writing articles about the safe use of marijuana were
wrong? 0r, was this whole campaign against the usage of marijuana,
historically speaking, as great a miscarriage of justice as the Salem
witch trials, the slavery of African's, and the genocide of Native
Americans; I was determined to find out why cannabis was so demonized.

I've learned all the medical marijuana hallabaloo is not about patient
care. It's all about money that might not be spent on expensive
prescription drugs if marijuana was legalized for medicinal purposes.
Pharmaceutical companies would much rather have you buy expensive
prescriptions rather than ingest or smoke a plant that grows like a
weed. Many people believe that the real motive behind the drug war
against marijuana is to stall research of industrial hemp. If hemp was
developed to its full potential, it would greatly reduce the need for
a large percentage of the petrochemical industry. Voters in ten states
have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana, but Congress refuses to
budge from the outdated 'reefer madness' position that criminalizes
all use. Marijuana is medicine. Patient's should be able to get it.

My passion for the truth has consumed me. Since 1996 I've spent at
least six hours every day tracking cannabis and hemp news on the
lnternet. Every day I read news articles, editorials, and op-ed pieces
in foreign and U.S. newspapers. I've concluded that mainstream media,
for sixty years, has shaped the public perception of cannabis and hemp
by promoting every myth and scare tactic supplied by the U.S.
government. The media has reported that smoking pot leads to violence,
that pot is a gateway to hard drugs and death, that pot kills brain
cells, grows breasts on boys, and causes cancer. It's all a very big
lie. There's a problem though in pointing this out. Voltaire once
wrote. "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. "

What can I, Tom Bauman, a disabled school teacher and Internet junky,
do to counteract these myths and scare tactics. By myself I can do
nothing. However, thanks to the Internet I have help. I am going to
start a website that has articles written by very influential and
famous people who are critical of our war on some drugs. I include a
short biography about each of these people so that you can decide if
they are qualified to make the statements they make. Of course I'm
afraid to do this. My reputation is at stake. I live in this town. I
know what some of you are going to think about me although I don't
even use drugs. Dresden James wrote, "When a well-packaged web of lies
has been sold to the masses over generations, the truth will seem
utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." Yet, I have to
do this. I have to tell the truth in my corner of the world. I'm
compelled to do so. I take comfort in the words of former Chief
Justice Earl Warren, "Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile
I caught hell for."

OTHERS ON THE BANDWAGON

Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico,
is a health enthusiast who refuses to eat sugar. For fun he runs in
triathlons. He says: "The first thing we should do is legalize marijuana."

Richard Brookhiser, senior editor of National Review magazine,
underwent chemotherapy after coming down with cancer. Although he
could afford the most expensive medicine in the world, he chose to
become a criminal and use marijuana to curb the nausea from his chemo.

Francis L. Young, DEA administrative law judge, spent the better part
of 1987 studying the effects of marijuana on patients taking the drug.
He concluded: Marijuana in it's natural form is one of the safest
therapeutically active substances known to man." Yet the DEA still
classifies marijuana as a schedule one drug. Somebody is lying to us.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard University has spent over thirty years
studying marijuana. He's a firm believer that marijuana is an
inexpensive and effective medicine.

The medical use of marijuana is not going to stop. Far too many
patients know that it helps them far too much.

IT IS TIME FOR OUR LEADERS TO FOLLOW THE PEOPLE ON THIS ISSUE.