loneprairie.net
Republican for Curative Cannabis

Thanks to Sherri The Writer for this excellent op-ed on medical marijuana from an unlikely source. The author, John Wilson, is a Bronx attorney.

I am an enrolled, card-carrying, President Bush- and war-in-Iraq-supporting conservative. You might expect me -- a lawyer, former prosecutor and law chairman of the Bronx County chapter of the state Conservative Party -- to oppose legislation allowing the medicinal use of marijuana.

You would be wrong. Many conservatives like me strongly support the medicinal use of marijuana, mostly because we have seen firsthand how medical marijuana can help desperately ill people.

As is usually the case, Mr. Wilson saw the benefits of our plant while watching his 40 year old brother-in-law die of pancreatic cancer. I wish every prohibitionist who refuses to admit the curative value of this herb, could have seen the world through his eyes for those years.

He was suffering, both from his illness and from the treatments his doctors prescribed. Marijuana helped to ease that suffering. It relieved his pain and nausea, giving him back his appetite and stopping his weight loss.

Medical marijuana gave John more than two years of life, and it made that time less painful. It worked when legal prescription medications did not.

Yet, the laws of New York treat patients like my brother-in-law as criminals.

The experience has converted Wilson from a critic to an advocate and he is now working to support New York's medical marijuana legislation. He notes that the ten states that have already enacted similar legislation, have implemented the laws with "few problems and little impact on their law enforcement activities." He makes a strong case.

For many years, doctors have been allowed to prescribe such drugs as morphine, cocaine and methamphetamine, which are much more addictive and dangerous than marijuana. Physicians are in the best position to know whether medical marijuana would help a patient; they should be allowed to make that decision legally.

...Medical organizations across the country support medical marijuana laws. Last year, the New York State Association of County Health Officials, all of whom are physicians, joined them, stating: "Marijuana has proven to be effective in the treatment of people with HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer and those suffering from severe pain or nausea."

I'm always sorry when we win a recruit from the prohibition side because they witnessed how it benefited a loved one who is dying. But I'm glad that they are willing to then speak out, in order to spare someone else unnecessary suffering. As Mr. Wilson says:

We have an opportunity to let humanity and justice guide us, to stop treating users of medical marijuana as criminals, and to honor John and others like him who need our help as they seek a longer, less painful life.

It's long past time for our legislators to heed his words.