Editorial: Arizona: Medical Marijuana Good, Governor Brewer Bad

By Ron Crumpton

ARIZONA – Governor Jan Brewer has formally announced her opposition to Proposition 203 because “medical marijuana leads to crime.”

First of all, if citizens of  Arizona want a good political barometer for what is in their own  best interest, their best course of action is to vote against Jan Brewer and anything that she endorses.

Governor Brewer’s actions and statements about health care, gay rights and immigration have made Arizona a laughing stock throughout the country.

Her signing of a bill that eliminated the states State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as KidsCare was asinine. This was a program designed to insure adequate healthcare for the children of Arizona. Children have no means to see to their own medical needs. No matter what your political leanings, if you think that we as Americans do not have a responsibility to see to the healthcare of all children then you do not know what America is about.

The prohibitions favorite rallying cry is "think of the children", but this goes to show how important the children are when it comes to their own political interests.

Her erroneous statements about headless bodies in the desert not only show that she has a willingness to lie when it serves her purpose, but her repeated assertions that it was true, even after it had been proven otherwise, just goes to show that she lacks the character to admit that she lied. If you want to say that she was “misinformed” then her repeated denials only go to show that she does not have the character to admit that she was wrong.

The fact that she signed legislation that repealed the right of gay and lesbian state workers to have their partner considered a dependant goes to show that if you don’t fall into the unique category of what she thinks an American should be, then your rights are of no consequence and you are less of a person than those who agree with her.

Now she has decided to bring her close-minded way of looking at the world to the medical marijuana debate.

 “I am fearful of the additional societal costs we will incur if voters were to pass this proposition,” she said at the news conference. “I ask my fellow Arizonans not to be bullied into believing this is about compassion for sick people.”

First of all Ms. Brewer, I think you should go down to your nearest cancer treatment center and tell the people there that the medicine that has been proven to be the best treatment for wasting syndrome and the ills associated with chemotherapy, is not really a medicine at all. Go ahead and tell them that they are just faking their illness to get marijuana, after all it is a backdoor to legalization.

Second, legalization would be good for her and Arizona. After all, legal marijuana would put the drug cartels out of the marijuana business. Maybe then, she would not find so many invisible headless bodies along Arizona’s border with Mexico.

There has been much debate lately about what percentage of money the cartels take in from marijuana. However, one thing is indisputable, if you look at it by size and weight; marijuana is by far their biggest product. Taking marijuana out of the equation would allow the border patrol to focus its limited resources on hard drugs, illegal immigration and protecting us from terrorist threats that could cross into this country through our border with Mexico.

At the press conference, she also stated that dispensaries would overwhelm communities and become magnets for crime. WTF!!! Prop 203 allows one dispensary for every 10 licensed pharmacies in Arizona. I am sorry, but this is the largest red herring I have ever seen. Prohibition has caused the rise of international criminal empires, but Governor Brewer is more worried that dispensaries would be magnets for crime.

Fortunately, her stance against medical marijuana is just as ignorant and ill conceived as her other political beliefs. The fact that she is against medical marijuana is more likely to convince undecided voters to vote for Proposition 2o3, than it is to convince them to vote against it.

Governor Brewer, the people of Arizona need real leadership, not a reject from the cast of Clueless.

Survey Says, It's Time to Help Patients

By Ron Crumpton

PHOENIX, Arizona – A new poll shows that a majority of Arizonians support Prop 203 and they outnumber those opposed by 19 percent.

Pollster Earl de Berge found that 52 percent of Arizonians support the proposition, while 33 percent are opposed. This leaves 15 percent of voters undecided.

This is great news for advocates of Prop 203. Generally, when there are a high number of undecided voters this close to an election, many of the undecided have made their decision but they are embarrassed by the way, they plan to vote.

This could also be a good indication for advocates because the reasonable conclusion is that those who are embarrassed about how they intend to vote are uncomfortable admitting that they are voting for medical marijuana. With a measure like this, those who are opposed or plan to oppose the proposition are quick to tell you.

This is a good for patients because the Arizona initiative addresses many of the problems that patients in other medical marijuana states have had to address.

First, the measure states that employers cannot terminate or discipline patients based solely on a drug test.

In order to chastise their employees, employers would have to prove that a worker was impaired or had consumed marijuana during work hours. This is a great first step, but it leaves a lot be desired.

There is no uproar about patients being impaired by prescription painkillers or other chemical medications that mar ones judgment much more that marijuana. Patients who consume medical marijuana for their illness should not have to meet a higher standard than other patients do.

Many patients need their medicine regularly to be able to work and are not “impaired” by taking their medicine because they have developed a tolerance to much of the euphoria. The same thing is true with prescription drugs, they get the patient high initially, but over time, those effects become less prominent.

Second, the measure places a reasonable number on dispensaries. 

With passage of the law, there will be approximately 125 dispensaries in the state and people who do not live within 25 miles of a dispensary will be able to grow their own.

This provides for patients to have reasonable access to their medicine, but it does limit some of the rights that they have fought for.

Many people, who take marijuana medicinally, do so because they are sensitive to what goes in their body. For them growing their own herbs is essential because they want to assert their right to control what goes into their body and for them how the marijuana is grown is just as important as the use of natural medicine itself.

Third, it protects doctors.

The medical marijuana laws that have been approved by voters in the past required a prescription instead of a recommendation. If a physician prescribes marijuana, he can have his or her prescription writing privileges revoked by the DEA, but the doctor can recommend the medicine without facing federal action.

Finally, it will finally give Arizonians the right to use the medicine they need.

This will be the third time that medical marijuana has been passed by ballot measure in Arizona. The first time was in 1996, yet it is still being denied to patients. This bill would end this injustice.

Arizona stands to make a big statement nationwide, when it comes to the issue of the rights of medical marijuana patients. The message is that even after all the bullshit and 14 years of having their vote ignored; medical marijuana patients do not give up.