Up In Smoke - Legalize It Already

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress are calling on the Obama administration to end the federal crackdown on marijuana dispensaries in California, citing Attorney General Eric Holder's past promise to maintain a hands-off approach toward pot clinics operating in compliance with state law.

Although most of the nine signatories on a Friday letter to the White House were California Democrats -- including Reps. Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Lynn Woolsey and Sam Farr -- the group also contained a California Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who is an outspoken medical marijuana advocate, and a Tennessee Democrat, Rep. Steve Cohen.

"We write to express our concern with the recent activity by the Department of Justice against legitimate medical cannabis dispensaries in California that are operating legally under state law," the lawmakers said.

Should marijuana be available to patients it can help? Hell yes. I think it should be available to anyone over 21, but particularly so in the case of patients who need the effects or the relief. There are many helpful benefits to marijuana under the right circumstances, and the people who need it most should have access.  Like any other restricted drug, when a benefit is found for an ailing patient, concessions are made.

I can vouch personally for how much it helped a friend of the family who died of cancer. It was a brutal and painful process, and the man had never so much as watched a Cheech and Chong movie. When he was given marijuana he resisted, but finally took it out of desperation. His appetite improved, he regained some strength, his mood improved and his final weeks were much improved. He died about a week after composing a letter to our governor stating how much medicinal marijuana had helped him.

It's time we separate science from myth. People don't smoke pot and disappear into the night talking to imaginary elves. It's more stable and less harmful than alcohol, and could be a cash crop for the U.S. as well as taking the rug out from under foreign drug empires. We have more money to make from sales than from the prosecution process. But if they are going to be so damned stubborn, at least allow it as a mercy to peole who are suffering. People that could be helped if they would allow it.

It's time to put an end to this stupidity once and for all.