Baloney on Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on September 21, 2007 at 06:30:33 PT
Editorial
Source: Times Herald-Record
Albany, NY -- There's a trick politicians use when they want to
appear to be in favor of some issue that has strong public support.
They craft legislation that suggests support but include a provision
they know the other political party won't go for.
Senate Republicans are doing just that with medical marijuana. The
Assembly approved a bill in June that allows people who are certified
as seriously or terminally ill to grow and possess small amounts of
marijuana, if recommended by a doctor. Nancy Calhoun of Blooming Grove
and Tom Kirwan of Newburgh properly voted for the bill.
The drug helps ease the chronic pain and nausea that accompany many serious illnesses.
Senate Republicans, including John Bonacic and Thomas Morahan, say
they, too, support the idea but — and here's the poison pill — only if
the system is controlled by doctors and the state. No "blanket
giveaways," as Bonacic put it. The bill would have the state control
distribution and, in effect, require a prescription from doctors. The
problem is that the federal government labels marijuana as a Schedule I
controlled substance, meaning it can't be prescribed.
And the U.S. Justice Department under the Bush administration has been
aggressive in going after doctors or government workers in states that
have laws allowing what the Republican here suggest. This tends to make
doctors wary of prescribing the drug.
This is not a war-on-drugs issue. Morahan, Bonacic and their GOP
colleagues should trust the state's most seriously ill residents not to
start dealing drugs from their death beds.
Source: Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY)
Published: September 21, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Orange County Publications
Contact: letters@th-record.com
Website: http://www.recordonline.com/
Posted by CN Staff on September 21, 2007 at 06:30:33 PT
Editorial
Source: Times Herald-Record
Albany, NY -- There's a trick politicians use when they want to
appear to be in favor of some issue that has strong public support.
They craft legislation that suggests support but include a provision
they know the other political party won't go for.
Senate Republicans are doing just that with medical marijuana. The
Assembly approved a bill in June that allows people who are certified
as seriously or terminally ill to grow and possess small amounts of
marijuana, if recommended by a doctor. Nancy Calhoun of Blooming Grove
and Tom Kirwan of Newburgh properly voted for the bill.
The drug helps ease the chronic pain and nausea that accompany many serious illnesses.
Senate Republicans, including John Bonacic and Thomas Morahan, say
they, too, support the idea but — and here's the poison pill — only if
the system is controlled by doctors and the state. No "blanket
giveaways," as Bonacic put it. The bill would have the state control
distribution and, in effect, require a prescription from doctors. The
problem is that the federal government labels marijuana as a Schedule I
controlled substance, meaning it can't be prescribed.
And the U.S. Justice Department under the Bush administration has been
aggressive in going after doctors or government workers in states that
have laws allowing what the Republican here suggest. This tends to make
doctors wary of prescribing the drug.
This is not a war-on-drugs issue. Morahan, Bonacic and their GOP
colleagues should trust the state's most seriously ill residents not to
start dealing drugs from their death beds.
Source: Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY)
Published: September 21, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Orange County Publications
Contact: letters@th-record.com
Website: http://www.recordonline.com/
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