43 Comments - Metro East "Farmer" - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 8:42 am: Quick…everyone run screaming! Potheads will be roaming your neighborhood looking to eat your children! OR people living in chronic (no pun intended) pain will be able to grow and harvest their own medicine (with no co-pay!) if they choose. I support the idea of medical marijuana if, and according to the article it would be, it is tightly controlled to people who actually MEDICALLY benefit from it. If passed, though, I predict the number of people seeking treatment for glaucoma would rapidly increase. As for the bonus question, I don’t think marijuana “devastates” the lives of users. Other drugs like alcohol and cocaine are more devastating… how many domestic violence calls are made because of pot compared to alcohol? 1 in 100,000? In fact, ask any policeman this question: Would you rather handle a subject that has had too much (a) alcohol (b) cocaine (c) marijuana. I know the answer is (c). Far out, man. - Lovie's Leather - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 8:58 am: Marijuana either needs to be totally legal or totally illegal. There are many users of it and how can we say it is okay for a legal adult who has a disease to use it and not okay for a healthy adult to use it. Marijuana can devastate lives of the people who use, like alcohol, if they use it on a daily basis. Generally, occasional users would probably not have any problems. Unfortunately, this issue is never an easy one to solve. - Beowulf - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:02 am: I am not sure about the word “devastates” being one word that fits all. I have never used marijuana. I was always afraid back in the 1960s-1970s that with my luck, I would like it. I pickup enough vices along the way on life’s path as it is. Is marijuana any worse that alcohol as far as devasting individual’s lives? As far as that goes, there are quite a few people out there that would say that gambling is an addiction that has “devastated” their family. I just figured that like most things in life, there was no powerful Pro-Marijuana industry or lobbiest group to speak out in it’s favor. The alcohol industry and the gambling industry(or call it “gaming” if it sounds more palatible that way) have lots of money and lots of power so that is why they are “A-Okay” in Illinois. The tobbacco industry evidently couldn’t compete with the much larger campaign contributions that liquor and gambling could come up with for our politicians. I guess I would prefer that marijuana be prohibited from being available to the masses. It has been hard enough coping with the drunken drivers that have taken so many lives. We don’t need to add drugged drivers to the roadways as well. It would be too hard to control the quantities grown at people’s homes. The police departments are short-handed as it is. They don’t need to be given even more unenforcable laws to monitor. - DOWNSTATE - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:05 am: Why not have an out patient clinic?The one and only place it is legal.Only certified staff allowed to work there with very tight goverment controls.Funding scources in advance not more charging to be paid someday. - Stosh - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:27 am: How much tax revenue will this bring to the state? - Walking Wounded - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:29 am: I agree with Downstate about outpatient clinics. I feel the medical use of marijuana should be no different than using morphine in a prescribed setting. If it helps those in real need, then let it be used as a medicine. As for the bonus question, I don’t believe for a minute that marijuana has come close to “devastating” lives as compared to alcohol. - ISU REP - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:31 am: Somehow I see Rod turning this into the answer for our budget problems! Latest Headline.. “Rod give subsidies for farmers to go grow pot, solves state budget problems!” I agree with Lovie we can’t have it allowed for some but not for others. If they are going to legalize make it like liquor or tobacco, heavily regulated and taxed. I think this is an issue that has been becoming of less importance to a majority of Americans over the years. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:33 am: Anyone seriously ill and getting treatment from professionals have available to them the best medicines to control any side effects. The idea that we have to legalize marijuana to satisfy a medical condition is ignorant. The active ingredients in marijuana are fully known, and we can give patients the comforts they need without the need to yank out a bong. Pro-marijuana advocates are victimizing these patients with their claims that their suffering is unnecessary if marijuana was approved. Folks enamoured of marijuana find dozens of reasons why they smoke it, and claim it does magical things both recreationally and medicinally. They are addicts, thats all. As for “devastating”, that word is usually used when describing catastrophic damage. If you smoke marijuana, nothing happens. Nothing. You lose your urge to do anything. You procrastinate on everything. You do nothing. Is this a problem? Yes, it is if you intend to have a life. Marijuana is psychologically addicting, which means that you don’t need it, you want it. Pot smokers stay psychologically hooked on pot until they find out that their life is too busy, rich and rewarding to waste five hours a day in a haze. The majority quit because they can’t find time in their lives to accommodate it. Those who stick with it find their lives stuck in neutral, going nowhere. “Devastating”, it isn’t, but it is a real mess. Finally, I studied in the Netherlands where pot is legal. Anyone saying that pot can be controlled and society can make it work for them, have never lived in Amsterdam to see how their drug laws have wrecked their society, especially their teens. Each “coffee shop” is often full of stoned teen boys playing video games and skipping school. The Dutch are trying to figure out how to put the genie back in the bottle, but as we saw in Prohibition, once a social ill is legalized, it is doubly difficult to eradicate. Legalizing “soft drugs” is recognized as a mistake in Amsterdam. Their cities are a drug gateway into the rest of Europe and other cities are demanding that the Dutch change their laws now. Those of us who remember the pro-pot days of yesterday, would not recognize the extremely powerful versions of pot today. What we thought of as great pot back in college wouldn be considered ditch weed today. Those of us who consider pot smoking a victimless crime are showing how out of touch and naive we are in dealing with this issue today. The year is 2006, not 1966, and we have to recognize that and grow up. - Darrell Democrat - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:34 am: There certainly is no pro-marijuana lobby… nobody wants their name on a D-2 promoting something illegal. Pols would probably not accept money from such a group anyway… it would basically write a campaign ad for your competition. (”…and Sen. Smith took money from those wanting to poison our children with DRUGS! What else did he take from that group?”) I wager that 15-20% of the total population uses marijuana now….would that increase if it were legal? - Just Observing - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:42 am: Anyone that thinks marijuana prohibition is what keeps people from smoking dope is a dope themself — I don’t know many people that don’t smoke because it is illegal but will all of a sudden take it up because if it becomes legal. Alcohol is far, far, far more destructive than marijuana, unless, of course, you consider eating too much pizza destructive. - High Profile Pot Head - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:56 am: as a longtime pot smoker (14 years) that has held high responsibility, highly visible jobs in the public sector, i believe that the crusade against adults, that in their private lives choose to smoke a joint instead of getting blasted on booze and cigarettes at bars is bullsh*t hypocrisy and unjustified puritanical moralism rooted in racism. The history of the war against pot goes back to a fight against blacks in the 30s,40s,50s that liked to smoke pot. The government and Wm Hearst demonized them as potential rapists and murderers. some drugs are ok but not others ? NO ONE has died from an overdose of pot. Many die from alcohol. No pot smoker that is stoned has ever gotten into a bar fight or beat his wife because he was too stoned or date raped some sorority girl. Alcohol fuels violence. Countless lawyers, mbas, ceos, doctors, politicians smoke pot in paranoia in their private lives and lead perfectly normal, productive lives. It’s bad enough that they test you for what you do in your private life now in many workplaces. In this culture, it is tantamount to being a closeted gay - actually worse. It’s time to put our attention on violent people that do harm to others. People should have control over their own minds, not big brother. Plus, as my favorite comedian Bill Hicks said, without pot there would be ZILCH good albums. Take away pot from American history and you take away the Beatles, the Stones, Jimi, Captain Beefheart, Louie Armstrong, Miles Davis best albums. The problem in politics is there are not enough pot heads, and way too many left-minded squares. - Walking Wounded - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 9:57 am: A few years ago, I had a friend who was diagnosed with a terminal bone cancer. It was a toss up what was more painful to her, the disease or the treatments. Medical science “best medicines” did not have any effect on relieving her pain or nausea. If treating her with marijuana or its derivative would have relieved her suffering, I can guarantee I would have found the resources to get it to her. Illegal? Sure. Ignorant? Not allowing someone to be treated because of the “marijuana bogeyman” syndrom…….that’s ignorant. - Tony Soprano - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:12 am: Yeah… Ban pot but allow drinking and smoking.. Makes sense to me!!! LOL I dont smoke pot but it should not be illegal. - shelbyville - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:12 am: This topic has been debated since at least 1969, when I was in HS. Yes, pot is a lot stronger than it was then. Yes, it can ruin lives, but any addiction can. Yes, it can used medicinally and should be. Do I use it? No, but then I don’t use tobacco, either. Right now I know 3 people with emphysema and 2 with lung cancer. Cigarettes are our worst enemy right now. I have read the marijuana smoke is much worse. - larry mullholland - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:13 am: Devastating?…..No it is not for most people. There are those addicting personalities who abuse everything like alcohol and gambling. However, According to Dr. Dean Adell, Marijuana is less addictive and less harmful to your body than Cocaign, heroin nicotine and even caffiene. He sited a study but it has been years since I heard him say this. For those who argue that allowing a dying cancer patient or one who suffers from the pain of gloucoma to smoke pot to relieve pain somehow makes pot more available to children …. News Flash: Despite the “best efforts” of our law enformcement community pot is readily available. Whether grown locally or brought in through a tunnel in California. The same opponents blocked an industrial hemp study a few years ago for the fear of the slippery slope. There is very low level of THC in ditchweed. It also had many many industrial uses…topic for another day….their argument is weak in my opinion…… - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:20 am: Pot doesn’t do anything to people that alchol, tabacco, and gambling due. Some how we have looked the other way on that stuff, mostly because of the large tax income. Frankly I believe our current drunk driving laws are much to lax. I say make pot legal and tax it heavily. Then maybe the politicians can grow some balls and crack down on drunk/stoned drivers. If you went into a mall and waved a gun around you would go to jail, driving drunk is more dangerous. Getting stoned hurts no one if its done at home, and the person doesn’t drive around. - anon - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:25 am: Nearly third of our prisons hold misdameaner pot offenders. Nearly a third of the court cases, a third of arrests ….many many hour of overtime for police officers, backlogged courts, over crowded prisons……because a the choice to use pot….(insert the decrimalization article from Chicago’s Mayor Daley some months ago)…..It should Certainly be legal for ill people! It should also be decriminalized or legalized…tax to the max and the proceeds should be used to fight teh deadly addiction to coke, Heroin, METH….these are the real burdens on our society and our criminal system…people kill to satisfy these addictions………If you are an intellectually honest person you cannot say the same for pot… - Cassandra - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:38 am: Are there a lot of people in jail in this state just because they were caught selling or possessing marijuana. Of course, I’m for legalizing medical marijuana, if it makes dying people feel less pain. But I’d like to take it further so I don’t have to support any potheads up at the jail. If marijuana possession alone results in incarceration, I’d like to see legislation changing that too. - EvanstonBoy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:58 am: High Profile pothead is right on. Let’s focus on the real problem drugs like Meth which is destroying lives at a disturbing rate. My sister-in-law battled brain cancer for 13 months before passing away and one of the only things that alleviated her suffering was marijuana. In fact the medical professionals who treated her in Illinois recommneded it for pain. This bill needs to be passed - Cheeseman - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 12:10 pm: Anyone who is a real conservative would support the legalization of marijuana for adults. It’s about liberty and freedom from government control over our lives. If you support Marijuana being illegal, then you’re frankly a big-government liberal who thinks that the government knows how to run our lives better than we ourselves do. There’s a word for so-called conservatives who oppose marijuana legalization: HYPOCRITE - Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 1:07 pm: I, uh, um, damn, I forgot what I was going to say. - nickname1 - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 1:34 pm: if pot devestates people who use it, we’d have a far higher turnover on legislative staffs, campaigns and professional sports teams. - donchicago48 - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 2:25 pm: Let’s face it… Criminilization of drugs has been a huge failure. In his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources - Committee on Government Reform June 16, 1999, David Boaz Executive Vice President of The Cato Institute said this, “The long federal experiment in prohibition of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other drugs has given us unprecedented crime and corruption combined with a manifest failure to stop the use of drugs or reduce their availability to children.” Since 1980, the percentage of drug offenders incarcerated in Federal Prisons has grown from 25% to 65%. At some point, we must ask ourselves some difficult questions about the effectiveness of our Drug Policy. Even a cursory examination shows that US Drug policy has fueled a hugely profitible illegal drug production trade in Central and South America and on our city streets. Gangs, murders and other crimes often stem from and are fueled by drug prohibitions. If the past is any prologue, this problem will only grow worse. Recently, Coca growers in South America have actually been elected national leaders, indicating the economic and political power that acrues to those who flout our legal restrictions. As long as we prohibit drugs, there will be all the attendent crimes that accompany the drug trade. Think of how many other government and policy areas are affected by the econmic consequences of our drug policy. For example, border security and control, immigration, foreign policy, law enforcement, court systems, prison systems, healthcare systems, and etc. - donchicago48 - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 2:35 pm: Here is a link to the now somewhat dated Cato institute article on Drug Policy: http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-dbz061699.html - Team Sleep - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 2:38 pm: Pot addicts? Devastation of lives? Medicinal marijuana advocacy is ignorant? ARGH! Where do people come up with this stuff? Life-saving meds are great and effective only if you can afford them. If you are a cancer patient who has little/no insurance and is suffering through pain and a lack of appetite, a bag of dope might actually do the trick for a small fraction of the price. What does it hurt to allow a cancer or AIDS patient the right to smoke pot? And is a cancer patient really going to go sell his extra weed to some Bingo buddies or his grandkids’ Playstation-playing friends? The devastation of lives is a way for the ultra-religious groups to stake a claim against something and look tough to their supporters, churches and conservative politicians. Since gambling, cigarrettes, alcohol and lotto tickets are all legal, these anti-marijuana groups have to find some vice or substance to rail against. Yet they pick something that is far less dangerous than boozing it up and going to the boats with last Friday’s paycheck. I’m a conservative guy, but at some point we have to realize that the war against pot is a waste of time and money. Our prisons are full of minor drug offenders who are eating up our tax dollars and causing extra problems for prison guards. Please refer to System of a Down’s “Prison Song” for further details. - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 3:07 pm: High Profile Pot Head - Is your real name Rod Blog…, Rod Blogod, Governor Smith? - Tom DeLay's Mom - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 3:31 pm: I would think the Illinois Retail Merchants Association would be a huge proponent of legalization of marijuana…just imagine how many more twinkies, krispy kremes and oreos their member convenience stores would sell… But seriously, last time I checked, it seems alcohol is the drug that tends to “devastate” lives (drunk driving, alcoholism, etc.) - while marijuana tends to make people mellow, docile, lazy and fat - if those are “devastating” consequences that merit prohibition, McDonald’s and Burger King better watch it… - dumb ol' country boy - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 5:35 pm: Maybe Sen.Cullerton needs to find new employment the next election. I know everyone can find pros and cons, how would it be regulated? The ISP is to busy writing seatbelt tickets to mess with, what is the state going to issue authorized green thumb growers association cards? Oh and I’m sure it will be picked up by Blue Cross !! - zatoichi - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 6:27 pm: Devastating lives? Please show the millions and millions of people devastated by pot. They should be everywhere with ruined lives and not just people in prison for 1 oz of pot. Are there addictive personalities? Yes. See them everyday. Those 500# people at work had to put in some serious effort to get that big. As others have written, almost anything can become addictive if used enough. For me, hot fresh rolls and butter will do it almost anytime, but that is off the topic. How many ex-bongers are on this blog? I personally know many former pot heads who are now school superindendents, judges, physicians, mental health counselors, legislators, and successful business people. I have seen many more lives ruined by alcohol, tobacco, and serious drugs like meth, crack, and heroin. Can pot be a gateway to other drugs. No denying that choice. It is also a nothing that many millions of people simply stop one day and get on with their life. I have had three friends with cancer. Two were terminal. They all felt that pot helped them through difficult times after chemo or when depression kicked in. Should I have lectured them on the evils of marijuana? With our history together they would have rightfully told me to screw off. Medical marijuana is being used everyday regardless of its legality. Make it legal and cut the hypocrisy. Then make pot legal and tax the hell out of it. That will cover some of the debt and give church groups another vice to anguish over. - Dave's Not here, Man - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 6:32 pm: I could envision medicinal clinics for prescription use, but in a time when the ISP can’t keep up with FOID paperwork, asking them to help monitor and enforce a medicinal THC network is just too much. The folks that would need medicinal herb the most are not usually in good shape to drive to such a clinic, and certianly not to drive back. They would need to keep and use it at home, where you can’t monitor it effectively. I suppose bonded official couriers could make deliveries, but really, the more you try to work out the logistics, the m ore expensive and complicated it gets, to the point it would be easier to just give them free prescription painkillers like morphine, dispensed from pharmacies locally. As to hemp, I believe the ISP and conservatives in the government are over-reacting and unfairly grouping it with reefer. Hemp was and in some places still is a legal and useful crop with myriad industrial uses, from power generation to cloth and fiber and more. Certainly a study on industrial and and commercial use of it could answer a lot of the objections about it… once we could demonstrate it’s not got a useable amount of THC in it, we could get past the propaganda and look to it as a cash crop our farmers could rotate along with corn and beans. Unlike our Governor, I have never smoked weed, I don’t believe in it, I don’t advocate it, neither do I support tobacco, but I believe there can be a case made for hemp as an agro-industrial product that would help our economy. - Another Limerick - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 7:07 pm: There once was a law bill that said, “Pot’s OK if you’re ill in the head”. When it passed, the well Started feeling like hell, And went straight to the Doc for their med. - Philosophe Forum - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 8:39 pm: Before he retired, my mother’s opthamologist was one of the best in the country. He diagnosed her with glaucoma & told her that her best option was occasional marijuana use. The best thing this country can do is legalize the herb, heavily regulate it, & provide people a little more dignity while they live with their severe illnesses. Marijuana is one of the largest crops grown in the US. Farmers losing their livelihoods or being paid to not grow crops is an abomination. What do you think former tobacco farmers are growing these days? The economic & environmental benefits from industrial hemp are mind-boggling. It grows on land where nothing else will. It’s perfect for Indian reservations. Since it’s federal land with restricted access, they could also grow a few acres of plants for medicinal THC. They can only build so many casinos in this country. In the 21st Century, the technology is available to remove whatever hazards people could perceive. The benefits are truly greater. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:45 pm: Kudos to Cullerton and others willing to stand up to the 21st Century equivalent of McCarthyism. The “war on drugs” is the single biggest public policy failure in the last 50 years. We need to launch a “war on ignorance” to educate Judy Kreamer and anyone who believes the points she raises in her quotes in this story. That argument is pure BS. - Anon - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 10:51 pm: Ask George Soros who has spent millions to have pot legalize if there is an organized effort to legalize pot or NORML. You’re all either are high or so miss informed you don’t know what you’re talking about. We are at the same time talking about legalizing Pot making it illegal to smoke outside your home. By the way it’s 2 and 1/2 ounce’s not grams they want to legalize that’s recreational not medicinal. Pot has more carcinogens and tars then cigarettes and it’s supposed to be healthy for you? Pot also mask’s many medical problem’s that may go undiagnosed so it better to stick with what’s medically suggested. Who do I sue if one of you pot head’s who are high as a kite goes out for Ho Ho’s and runs over my child, you or the doctor that prescribed the pot. Lastly those that went though the 60’s and 70’s will remember how this country decided a little drug use wasn’t a bad idea. Well 30 years later the crime rate is finally coming down and we have just stopped building new prisons. Which aren’t full of people who got caught smoking one joint but from stealing or hurting someone while they were high or higher when the pot just wasn’t enough so they had to drink or do some Meth, or other drug. I guess it would be nice if you all were adults and sat in your house alone and didn’t bother others but you don’t you get out and kill other’s. Sorry it’s not worth the risk I feel for the people that are sick I really do. I am really concern for the thousands of innocent people who die because of people doing drugs in our society and its effect on their families and that it will be worse if we condone it. Don’t give me that old song, we have alcohol that’s like saying well one side of the house is on fire so we may as well light the other side on fire too. We don’t need to make our problems any worse. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Feb 22, 06 @ 11:05 pm: Thanks for making my point Anon 10:51. I can’t argue with your logic. - Lefty - Thursday, Feb 23, 06 @ 1:05 pm: The idea that pot has anything to do with cocaine, heroin, or crank is simply preposterous. And the idea that a child will be run over by a pot-smoking glaucoma patient so the drug should remain illegal is called a straw man argument. There is not one documented death from pot. Not one. No cancer, no emphysema, no ODs. 1000s die in the country from smoking cigs (400,000), drinking alcohol (85,000), and being fat (400,000) (2000 data). Should we outlaw cigs, alcohol, and anyone over 300 pounds? - Southern Illinoisian - Thursday, Feb 23, 06 @ 1:33 pm: Pot is not a medicine, it’s an excuse. Idiots who use it, or claim to “not care what a consenting adult does” have never dealt with a pot-fogged driver or co-worker. We have enough problems with drunk drivers now, you want to add another problem? You want that guy on the fork-lift coming at you while he’s “medicinally” stoned? And, don’t use the excuse that it would just “legalize what they’re already doing”. The rate of use would skyrocket, along with the accident and death rates. What then, MAPS (Mothers Against Pot Smokers)? The extremely weak justification doesn’t come close to the negative impact to the state at large. Why am I not surprised that this came out of a Chicago Democrat? Buncha damn loonies. By the way Lefty, no one tracks pot deaths, that’s why there’s no data. Oh, I forgot, you’re too fogged to actually think. - Lefty - Thursday, Feb 23, 06 @ 5:03 pm: That is really clever, SoIL. Must be the beer and cigs clearing your brain. - anon - Friday, Feb 24, 06 @ 3:34 pm: Southern Illinoisan… You comment makes it clear that your are ignorant of the facts being discussed. And your comment makes few other things quite clear but I’ll refrain from providing other negative characterizations. No one has suggested (other than you)that “pot fogged forklift drivers ” should be allowed to work intoxicated. In fact, I would argue that the penalalties for such activity should very HARSH! The same as you would for drinking on the job or drinking and driving. I am quite sure most dying cancer patients refrian from fork lift driving while medicated….unless perhaps you 618′ers do it differently. Pot should be allowed for sick people. It is silly not to allow it….even for hateful, suffering 618′ers like Southern Illinoisan seems to be. And by the way, as to your reference to “bunch damn loonies democrats from Chicago”, I am a republican downstater who is realistic ….so give them their medicine. - Philosophe Forum - Friday, Feb 24, 06 @ 6:06 pm: I’m a So. IL Democrat in the 618 area code. For me, the best way to legalize medical marijuana would be to control it with heavy regulations and tax it so that the suppliers have a safe product and the consumer can buy it with confidence knowing what its content is. That is a legitimate public safety issue. The appropriate safeguards are all it takes. I’m certain that my mother could use marijuana to ease her glaucoma in the privacy of her own home with no adverse effects to public safety. - Anon - Saturday, Feb 25, 06 @ 9:39 pm: There is little difference between pot and cocaine and other drugs they can all leave you just as impaired to drive a fork lift or anything else. If you think people will use Pot “medicinally” only, you are stoned. “Medicinal marijuana” is just a line of crap to deceive people into thinking we should legalize drugs. The voter’s know better. The narrowly define medical issue’s you reference, they can’t tell the difference between someone who dies of lung cancer from tobacco or pot smoke. You of course leave out all the people that have died from gang violence and families that have been torn apart because of drugs. Does and employer have to find a way to accommodate an employee who has a “disability” that requires them to smoke pot at work? - bbishere2 - Sunday, Feb 26, 06 @ 12:35 pm: There is no reason that the compounds in marijuana that are useful for medicinal purposes can’t be removed from the plant and made into viable chemicals without having to smoke a joint for the cure. This would provide the needed help for those who need it and would not promote illegal drug use for those who oppose it. This would also separate the legitimate medical useage and patients from those who would use the medical system to try to “legally” abuse the weed. Yes, tobacco is a killer, but have any of you who bemoan it, ever demanded from your government that they stop subsidizing those growing it? Quit wasting tax dollars on tobacco growers when they turn around and make the manufacturers of its products append labels to the packaging that it’s usage is dangerous to your health. Now, there’s a conservative approach to the problem that is not hypocritical. And no, I don’t have any “papers, man…” - Anon - Monday, Feb 27, 06 @ 10:08 pm: bbishere2-there is a pill available now which is legal in this state already. problem solved no need to risk all the other problems. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.