Gov. Mitt Romney meets a medical marijuana patient--Oct. 6

here are some interesting facts about medicinal marijuana..

Since 1996, twelve states have legalized medical marijuana use: AK, CA, CO, HI, ME, MT, NV, NM, OR, RI, VT, and WA. Eight of the twelve did so through the initiative process. Hawaii's law was enacted by the legislature and signed by the governor in 2000, Vermont's was enacted by the legislature and passed into law without the governor's signature in May 2004, Rhode Island's was passed into law over the governor's veto in January 2006, and New Mexico's legislation was signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson on April 2, 2007.


In spite of the established medical value of marijuana, doctors are presently permitted to prescribe cocaine and morphine - but not marijuana.
Source: The Controlled Substances Act of 1970, 21 U.S.C. §§ 801 et seq.

On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled:
"Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known....[T]he provisions of the [Controlled Substances] Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance."
Source: US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22] (September 6, 1988), p. 57.

The DEA's Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care."
Source: US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Agency, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition," [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.

Between 1978 and 1997, 35 states and the District of Columbia passed legislation recognizing marijuana's medicinal value.
States include: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, IL, IA, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI.




I think a lot of the information provided to the masses about medical marijuana is very skewed...Politicians seem to have a one sided, non-investigative view on it despite the overwealming evidence that it does work in a controlled environment. I have seen the medical stores in San Francisco and in NorCal and they are a very safe business. Not only is MedMarij good for patients, but it also stimulates the economy (when legalized). The state government taxes the crop and they make a lot of money off of it. According to NORML.org and the Birmingham News, Marijuana is the number one cash crop in Alabama. What if we controlled this cash crop and taxed it for medicinal use? Most of the people who are illegally growing in mass quantities are doing so in a dishonest and environmentally unsafe way, not to mention the fact that the Alabama Free Malitia gets much of its money from the cultivation of marijuana...definatly don't want those kooks having lots of money to buy more illegal grenades, rocket launchers, and IEDs.

Most people, including Mitt Romney are in the dark about medical marijuana. My DARE officer told my highschool class that medical marijuana didn't exist anywhere in the US. Needless to say, I spoke to her after class about her lies. Maybe someone should speak to our government officials who are spreading these lies or even just hearing them? We spend so much money on a failed war on drugs aimed toward marijuana, a less harmful substance than alcohol. If we want to attack drugs, lets get all those poor 2nd graders off of meth based ADD drugs and spend all the money we waste on pot towards a global campaign against cocain and the slave trade that goes hand in hand with it...let's DO something!!!