EDITORIAL: Liberty and Medicine

In the next session of the Alabama legislature, the legal use of medical marijuana will once again come before the house and senate for their consideration.

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act (MPCCA) would make it legal, with a doctor’s recommendation, to possess and consume marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The time has passed for us to deny patients the medicine that they need simply because marijuana has been demonized through U.S. government propaganda. Study after study has shown that marijuana is not the evil substance that we have been led to believe, and study after study has shown that marijuana has more medical uses than nearly any other substance on earth.

As a medication, marijuana is gentler than many other medicines, but because it is an herb, many people can take marijuana when they cannot take chemical pharmaceuticals. There is no other medicine that can come close to creating appetite in those with cancer, HIV/AIDS and stomach disease, the way that marijuana can.

Marijuana can be taken as an effective form of pain management. Unlike the chemical medicines, with marijuana there is no fear of death due to overdose, or any of the other life threatening side effects attributed to narcotic pain relievers such as Oxycontin, Percocet or Loritab.

Marijuana has been shown to reduce the number and severity of seizures among those suffering from Epilepsy. Marijuana has been shown to relieve the muscle rigidity and muscle tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease and these are just some of the many uses of medical marijuana.

As Americans, we are guaranteed certain rights, and among those rights is liberty. Should our right to liberty not include the liberty to choose the medicine that is most effective in treating our illness? Should our right to liberty not include the right to choose the medicine that is in most cases is safer than their pharmaceutical counterparts are? Should our liberty not include the right to do what is best for our families, and isn’t taking the medicine that does us the most good not what is best for our families.

The truth is that the war on marijuana is almost over; the stigma is gone. The lies about it have been largely disproven, and there has been so much research done on cannabis that the anti-pot establishment is finding it hard to pass off new lies about it. For that reason, the legalization of marijuana will happen sometime in the not so distant future.

The question is; should we deny medical marijuana to the patients that need it now, when we know it is eventually going to be legal for all?