So how will the campaign be framed, to legalize at least the pharmaceutical use of marijuana? It's obviously far far safer than pharmaceutical opiates like morphine. It clearly has numerous byproducts which have proven to be beneficial to many suffering people. Many of the biproducts have absolutely no intoxicating or addicting properties. To this journalist, it's not even a controversy. When my dad was in his last stages of terminal cancer, I would have gladly risked a jail cell so my own father could have a reprieve from the immense pain. I suspect you would, also. But then there's the argument that it's just a slippery slope toward all pot products being sold on the regulated market. And it's true that when people get comfortable with the idea of pharmaceutical pot, they'll realize that the demonizing of this herb was very unwarranted. Let me say, here; I am a teetotaler and will be content to stay living my relatively drug-free existance. But in my youth I had experienced both pot and booze. I can say unequivicably that liquor products are far more deadly than smoking weed. If you insist that pot is too dangerous, at least be consistant and lobby your legislator to reinstate full liquor prohibition, because it's just medically inconsistant to allow the more dangerous liquor market while banning all pot. |
But when this economic factor becomes a legitimate regulated industry, the small tax rate associated with it will certainly make a positive impact on city services, school funding, public safety, and so much more.
Luckily, legalizing medical marijuana through legislature is very much a possibility in Oklahoma. Quite a few states have chosen to go this route in recent years and more continue to follow. Representative Eric Proctor intends to introduce House Bill 1877 this week, which would give patients with one of several chronic medical conditions access to medical marijuana much sooner than the next election, if passed.
Specifically, the bill reads that it would protect qualifying patients from “arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner or denied any right or privilege, including without limitation a civil penalty or disciplinary action by a business or occupational or professional licensing board or bureau.” So as long as patients comply with regulations, this law would ensure they were not arrested at a state level for using a medicine they know will work.
Read the full report at Marijuana Times.