I find it hard to believe that there can be any significant change in marijuana policy without a change in the way law-abiding patients acting with a prescription are treated. Currently, patients in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are subject to federal prosecution and violent raids by the DEA. At least they're safe under state law, right?
Not so fast. According to a recent ruling by the California Supreme Court, people who supply marijuana to patients with a prescription are still subject to arrest as if they were drug dealers.
That's funny - I thought the whole point of legalizing medicinal use was that medicinal use would be, you know, no longer a crime.
And therein lies the problem. How can we expect people to decriminalize marijuana on a wide scale - let alone legalize it- when law enforcement fails to recognize its use as a legitimate medicine?
Maybe I should clarify that: they recognize that marijuana is a legitimate medicine... they just believe that legal distribution and use of a medicine is a crime, even with a prescription and license.
In Michigan, the initiative to legalize medicinal marijuana received a greater portion of the vote than Obama did. (The same holds for the Massachusetts initiative to decriminalize small possession, and I am convinced that, had Massachusetts instead held a vote on medicinal use, it would have passed with over 70% of the vote.) It is no secret that a disproportionately large proportion of the elderly vote, compared to their children/grandchildren, and these voters are more likely to be sympathetic to medicinal use for ailments such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and others. These voters are less likely to support decriminalization or legalization for personal use (though as many as 70% in Massachusetts were polled as supporting decriminalization as well).
Once people accept marijuana as a medicine - thereby accepting that has beneficial properties - they are more likely to adjust their view of marijuana as a 'dangerous, corruptive, gateway drug' and start seeing it as it truly is.
We have reports of legislative efforts in Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York already, and it is very easy to start a campaign in your home state if there isn't already one. (Contact us if you have any questions). It is key at this point to show strong support for state legislation legalizing medicinal marijuana, and it is also a very winnable battle, so let's get to it!
That's funny - I thought the whole point of legalizing medicinal use was that medicinal use would be, you know, no longer a crime.
And therein lies the problem. How can we expect people to decriminalize marijuana on a wide scale - let alone legalize it- when law enforcement fails to recognize its use as a legitimate medicine?
Maybe I should clarify that: they recognize that marijuana is a legitimate medicine... they just believe that legal distribution and use of a medicine is a crime, even with a prescription and license.
In Michigan, the initiative to legalize medicinal marijuana received a greater portion of the vote than Obama did. (The same holds for the Massachusetts initiative to decriminalize small possession, and I am convinced that, had Massachusetts instead held a vote on medicinal use, it would have passed with over 70% of the vote.) It is no secret that a disproportionately large proportion of the elderly vote, compared to their children/grandchildren, and these voters are more likely to be sympathetic to medicinal use for ailments such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and others. These voters are less likely to support decriminalization or legalization for personal use (though as many as 70% in Massachusetts were polled as supporting decriminalization as well).
Once people accept marijuana as a medicine - thereby accepting that has beneficial properties - they are more likely to adjust their view of marijuana as a 'dangerous, corruptive, gateway drug' and start seeing it as it truly is.
We have reports of legislative efforts in Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York already, and it is very easy to start a campaign in your home state if there isn't already one. (Contact us if you have any questions). It is key at this point to show strong support for state legislation legalizing medicinal marijuana, and it is also a very winnable battle, so let's get to it!
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