Another State Jumps Aboard the Medical Marijuana Bandwagon
Thursday May 28, 2009
The Illinois Senate has taken the first step in backing the use of marijuana to treat the symptoms of some diseases or illnesses. By a 30-28 vote the Senate passed the Bill and has sent it to the Illinois House for their approval. If passed and put into law, the measure would allow people suffering from unrelenting pain or nausea due to certain conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis or Crohn's disease to use marijuana if prescribed by a doctor. The doctor must have a standing relationship with the patient.Related Information
- Are the Legitimate Medical Uses for Marijuana?
- What Does Michigan's Marijuana Law Say?
- Marijuana Use Increases Risk of Testicular Cancer
Comments
Legalize it. Treat it like alcohol plain and simple. End black market and violence.
I’m so sick of the Gateway Drug Argument. Alcohol is the ULTIMATE GATEWAY DRUG. It’s probably 90% of people’s first buzz. And if they like it, the want more. None of my successful friends that smoke got into heavy drugs like coke.
Once it’s legal it will be exciting for the first 3 months. After that, the people who smoke now, will probably smoke the same amount. And the people who won’t, simply won’t. Not much will change.
And if treated like alcohol. Kids will have as much access to it as a 6 pack of beer so it’s regulated.
So legalize it. And to the folks that say NO and that have never done it, what right do they have to judge it?
Medical marijuana is legitimate for some people. I believe that there are some very sick people out there who aren’t responding well to some of the medication they’ve been given and marijuana works better for them. It’s inhumane and tyrannical for our government not to allow them to use it.
But, the medical marijuana movement is certainly not just about helping sick people. Obviously much of the support for it comes from people who really want to legalize marijuana for all purposes, and from people who aren’t really sick who’d like to be able to grow a few plants without fear of arrest. Are they doing it just because they want to get high? They’re already getting high. They don’t need medical marijuana laws for that.
We don’t have medical marijuana in my state. I’d vote for it because I think it is wrong to deprive sick people of medicine they need. I don’t really like the medical marijuana movement though because I’m sure there are people out there who don’t need it who convince themselves they do just so they can justify getting high. I’m sure it’s a way for some to rationalize their heavy marijuana use. They’ll get high whether it is legal or not, mind you, but the “fact” that they are using it for medicinal purposes gives them a way to rationalize their use to themselves, and maybe family members. I’d rather it just be legal and regulated like alcohol and then there wouldn’t be so much dishonest talk about marijuana as a medicine good for anything that ails you clouding peoples’ judgement. People who aren’t sick who smoke it would smoke it because they like to smoke it, not because they “need” it, and those who are really sick who actually might be helped by it could use it for medical purposes if they so desired, or if their doctors tell them they should try it. I think people would be a little more honest with themselves and each other that way.
Marijuana will end up being legalized and regulated in a manner similar to alcohol. That is inevitable. We aren’t stopping a thing with our laws. The ban on marijuana is causing all the problems Alcohol Prohibition caused and then some. We’re doing far more harm than good trying in vain to keep up the ban. We would be better off as a country if we would just legalize it and regulate it like alcohol.
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