MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL IF IT HELPS PATIENTS

Medical marijuana is a popular issue. A November 2005 nationwide
Gallup Poll showed 78 percent of Americans "support making marijuana
legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and
suffering," and state medical marijuana initiatives have been
repeatedly endorsed by voters.

According to the Marijuana Policy Project, only four state
legislatures -- Hawaii, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont -- have
had the courage to stop arresting patients without a drive from the
voters.

The project also states that many of the legal alternatives proposed
by opponents of medical marijuana are too expensive, too addictive and
have too many side effects to be good medicine for all patients.

Chemotherapy patients who are too nauseated to eat or swallow a pill
should not have to fear arrest if they -- and their doctors -- find
that smoking marijuana is the most effective means of treating their
symptoms.

Ultimately, the decision of what medicine is best for an illness
should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not to the
government. As the policy project notes, when they have their doctors'
approval, patients should be able to use medical marijuana without
fear of arrest or imprisonment. They should also be able to rely on a
safe supply of marijuana, without having to resort to the dangerous
criminal market.

For all of these reasons, our lawmakers should enact laws that protect
patients from arrest and imprisonment.

BRAD EILERS

Hector