Marijuana as medicine First published: Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Two years ago, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, was one of the few state leaders calling for New York to adopt a humane medicinal marijuana law. George Pataki, who was governor at the time, was opposed, perhaps because he was seeking to burnish his tough-on-crime credentials as a possible 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Eliot Spitzer, who was attorney general in 2005, and the state's chief prosecutor, was also opposed. The measure went nowhere. But now Mr. Spitzer is governor and he says he has had a change of heart on medicinal marijuana. Before, he says, he was thinking like a prosecutor. Now, as governor, he says, he has come to recognize the beneficial effects that marijuana can have for chronically ill people and he is prepared to sign a medical marijuana law that is "properly structured."
The Legislature should send him one. The palliative benefits of marijuana are well documented. For many cancer patients, marijuana is the only substance that helps ease the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy. Other victims of chronic illnesses also cite the relief that marijuana can bring, including the television talk show host Montel Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Ideally, Congress would pass a federal law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, but the lawmakers have not shown the political courage to do so. As a result, more and more states are taking the initiative.
Allowing the use of marijuana under a doctor's supervision is no different than a patient being prescribed morphine or other pain killers. The argument of opponents -- namely, that marijuana is a gateway drug and legalization for medical purposes would lead to rampant abuse -- has never had any merit. The issue has always been about pain, and how to ease it. The sooner Gov. Spitzer signs a law structured to that effect, the better.
The so-called rampant abuse is here now(ALWAYS HAS BEEN).....How many drug ships are seized?.....many at the beginning of the so called war on terror....not so many now.....we are in Iraq (they blew up NY)....Yet Columbia has a drug running government with well worn paths to the States(the human wreckage all over) and we say OK.....SHOW ME THE MONEY TRAIL.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
This is just another lame bill that law makers feel compelled to talk about. Let's face it people...anyone can get 'pot' ANYWHERE. Just go to any school. It is much more readily available illegally than it ever will be legally. So if someone has a disease that the medical profession feel can be helped by pot...then go to it...ask you kids, their friends, parents, coworkers, doctors, neighbors where you can get the stuff....and keep your mouth shut. Or just ask a Schenectady cop...
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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