As a very wise man I know recently said, "The train has left the station," and when it comes to medical marijuana this statement is totally applicable. Now that the legalization of the medicine has swept 14 states in the nation, all the issues associated with cannabis as medicine are starting to surface right along with the obvious lack of efficient problem solving on the part of local governments.
As a patient, I find it appalling that any politician believes it is their place in life to tell me what I can or can't use to treat my complex nerve damage. What is more appalling is the fact that after the voters have spoken, certain politicians have taken it upon themselves to harass those who need this plant because of a few people who might be "abusing" the system.
As far as I am concerned, unless you are my doctor, you have no right to make any judgments about my health and what treatments are best for me. One common response given by medical marijuana opponents is that there are so many other (pharmaceutical) options. Again, since none of the opponents are involved in my medical treatment, it makes sense they have no clue that marijuana is the option I came to when I was no longer able to function on the "alternatives" they talk so much about.
One major pattern that seems obviously clear in all of this is discrimination. There is discrimination against people who choose marijuana over pharmaceuticals when the pharmaceuticals are unable to provide the necessary relief. It is discrimination against those who are sick when someone looks at a person and decides whether they are really sick or not, and any assessment is made about "how sick" someone is by their appearance. It is certainly discrimination when someone has to be a certain arbitrary age to receive a treatment that might be the only thing that works for them.
I don't wear a shirt that says, "I am in pain" and there are no commercials promoting how great it is when a plant can change a person's life like marijuana has changed mine. Pharmaceuticals also have their place, but they certainly weren't right for treating the condition I am stuck with.
So what about the dispensaries?
When it comes to the dispensary issue, I can totally understand why people have issues with this new industry. When I go to a dispensary I am not typically impressed if the place looks like a teenager's bedroom. Recreationalizing the use of marijuana for medical purpose does not present a positive impression to those who already don't understand it. Plus, the medicine costs enough to ensure the place where I buy it is clean and professional. There aren't too many places I frequent where I drop more than $100 per visit. The places I do, don't have neon signs in their windows, or make me question my safety. Call me a snob, but I have certain expectations when I give someone my money.
Do we need to have a moratorium on these businesses until a solution is reached? It strikes me as strange that with everything the opponents of medical marijuana tout about knowing about the issues that they have neglected a very important thing; health issues don't work according to the schedules of beaurocrats. When someone is dying, they don't have six months to wait until local officials can wrap their minds around the concept of a dispensary, and try to work it into their political agendas. Why is it fair to discriminate against the dispensary industry when pharmacies are everywhere, and they don't pay extra fees or taxes?
This brings me to the taxation of medical marijuana. While I would love to see communities benefitting from the profits of marijuana sales, the sale of medicine in a pharmacy remains untaxed. Why do the sick and injured in the country need to flip the bill for political incompetence from issues that are not only unrelated, but existed long before dispensaries? If anyone is trying to recreationalize medical marijuana it is the politicians who are treating it as such. If you want to tax marijuana, then legalize it completely. Let those who have a doctor recommendation pay no taxes on it, and be reimbursed by their insurance companies. This will surely eliminate the fraud when someone lies to get a permit, because it would be a lot easier to just go buy it and pay taxes than to get a permit.
What this all comes down to is there will always be someone who abuses any system that provides a certain benefit. If we are going to start regulating cannabis as medicine, it's only fair that it be regulated in the same way other medicines are regulated. The lives of those who are sick, dying, and/or severely injured deserve more respect than to turn their healthcare into a political game.
With all this in mind, I implore all polticians to look a little deeper at what is leading your choices. Are you doing what is right for the community, or what is right to justify your own perceptions of what you think is right? I challenge you all to remove yourself from whatever place you find comfort and realize this is the place where the people who need your support live every moment of their lives. When medical marijuana offers a certain quality of life that is unparalleled to any other chemical compound, who's willing to be the one to tell those who live in agonizing pain they are wrong?
Comments
The people in Colorado need your help in testifying. Have you contacted the Cannabis Therapy Institute?
Thank you, thank you, once again thank you. YOU always say what I've been thinking, but better. My dear you have a gift, and are a great voice for common sense and justice. Much respect, come see me at
www.myspace.com/rt2 Keep on writing, it's always lifts my soul
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