[420 Girl]

It is time that Wisconsin has a serious debate about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. If the state engages in a serious, factual debate that is not derailed by ideology and political posturing, the State Legislature will have the compassion and humanity to legalize the drug for patients.

A bill sponsored by two Democratic state lawmakers, Sen. Jon Erpenbach and Rep. Mark Pocan, will have a public hearing in the Assembly and the Senate on Dec. 15 and possibly come up for a vote in January.

"This issue is first and foremost about compassion," Pocan said in unveiling the bill this week. "A patient and their doctor should have as many options as possible available when treating a patient's condition."

It is also worth noting that former Rep. Gregg Underheim, an Oshkosh Republican, first sponsored a medical marijuana bill in 2006.

There is incontrovertible and overwhelming scientific research that shows marijuana can relieve the pain from a variety of chronic conditions and ease the side affects of cancer and HIV treatments. The fact that 14 states - Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington - presently allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes should give Wisconsin lawmakers courage to overcome the knee jerk reaction that will inevitability oppose the thought legalizing the drug.

We are confident that as proposed, the bill has the requisite safeguards to prevent the abuse of marijuana. Those safeguards include requiring physician's prescription and a well-defined list of medical conditions for which the drug could be prescribed. The law also requires that distribution of the drug would be regulated by the state. Additionally, users would be registered with the state Department of Health Services and would not be allowed to drive or operate heavy machinery while under the influence of medical marijuana. And the bill specifies a maximum amount of marijuana a patient may have.

The time is right for Wisconsin to act on legalizing marijuana for medical use. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said recently that the Justice Department would not enforce federal drug laws in states that permit medicinal use of marijuana and Gov. Jim Doyle said he would sign the bill if passed by the legislature.

The legislature should pass the bill. It makes no sense to ban a drug that has proven to be medically beneficial when physicians are legally prescribing more toxic and addictive drugs.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...marijuana.html