|
|
 |
| 10/24/2009 1:01:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Sen. Jon Erpenbach: Time to consider medical marijuana
 | By Sen. Jon Erpenbach
D-Waunakee
|
To see a loved one or friend in pain and to watch them struggle at the end of their life or from harsh treatments like chemotherapy is terrible. You watch the person you love disappear. To find peace and free them of pain is all that you hope for; for some people that relief could come as prescribed medical marijuana.
With all of the extraordinary advances of medicine and all of the life-saving techniques we have, sometimes relief can be as simple as marijuana - currently a regulated illegal drug in Wisconsin. I am co-authoring the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act this session in the hope that this medical option can be available to all Wisconsin patients who need it. Drafted based on the Michigan medical marijuana bill that passed by statewide referendum, this bill simply gives patients and their doctors an option to consider marijuana without fear of prosecution. The Michigan referendum passed in all 83 counties, with a 63 percent majority statewide.
This is an issue where the public has been far ahead of policy makers. Polling in Wisconsin has shown consistent support for medical marijuana, most recently reaching above 75 percent approval. In the seven states where medical marijuana was added as a ballot initiative, it passed in each state with a wide margin. As we work to address comprehensive health care reform, consideration should be given to the benefits of medical marijuana for patients with a debilitating medical condition.
The bill provides a medical necessity defense for marijuana-related prosecutions and property seizure if the patient has a valid prescription from their physician and an ID card from Department of Health Services. Conditions covered could include cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and HIV, and diseases as determined by administrative rule. The bill also creates a maximum amount of marijuana a patient may have, establishing clear limits for both the patient and law enforcement. If someone who is prescribed marijuana commits a crime, like operating a vehicle under the influence, they cannot use the defense created in this bill; they still have to follow Wisconsin laws. Finally, the bill gives the state Department of Health the ability to create rules for a registry of people allowed to use medical marijuana and for the licensing and regulation of a nonprofit corporation to distribute marijuana.
Recently, President Obama said that the federal law enforcement will follow the laws of the states regarding medical marijuana. Currently, there are 13 states where medical marijuana is legal and another 14 states where legislation is pending. Clearly the public pendulum on this issue is in support. That support, however, is not the only reason why the Wisconsin Legislature should act to make medical marijuana legal; we should act because it is simply the right thing to do for patients in pain.
Our friends and family deserve all medicinal options available when they struggle with disease and the therapy we have created to kill disease. Please contact my office for additional information on the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act at (888) 549-0027 or (608) 266-6670 or via e-mail at sen.erpenbach@legis.wi.gov.
- Sen. Jon Erpenbach,
D-Waunakee, serves the
27th Senate District.
 |  | |
|
|
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Article comment by:
L
People that want marijuana to become legal must be drug addicts themselves.
I don't want it to become legal. Street drugs, like marijuana, make you addicted and produce a "high". Getting high on drugs is just as bad as getting drunk. You are out of control, and don't act like your normal self.
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Article comment by:
I'm w/ Eric
No Way is WAY off base. I would much rather see this legalized and realize taxes on it, than continue as we are now. Mary Jane is nature's pain killer. Who knows what's in the cocktail of pills you have injested for the past 25 yrs. Besides it's harder to get regular cold medicine like benadryl at the pharmacy due to other more popular drugs. Mary Jane is mild compared to Meth, Crack, Heroine. I pick lesser of the evils. I bet more people have die from the cancer of the cigarettes than any side effects from Mary Jane.
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Article comment by:
NO WAY
I am 33 years old. I have been taking prescription drugs, since I was 18 months old (a baby). I have been taking seizure medications, my entire life. I have been taking a barbituate for my seizure, since 18 months of age. I used to take phenobarbital. Then I switched over to Mysoline. Mysoline breaks down into phenobarbital, further in the gut. Mysoline doesn't cause as many mood swings, as what phenobarbital does. I take primidone now, which is generic Mysoline. I am weaning off of a seizure medication. I take 2 heartburn meds. I take an antidepressant. I use Nasonex and Pataday eye drops. I am not dead, after 32+ years of medication. I don't overdose on my meds. I take them accordingly.
Recreational drugs, like marijuana, fry your brain. Do you remember the television commercial, with frying an egg? "This is the brain. This is the drug. This is your brain on drugs." I even wrote a poem called "Why Drugs Aren't Cool". I asked the Green County D.A.R.E. program if they would like to put that poem with their program. The woman told me that the content of the poem was nothing new.
You should go to the PD and ask about the Drug Abuse to Resistance Education.
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Eric B.
I personally laughed out loud when I read the comment by NO WAY. Please educate yourself on the subject. Way to use Michael Jackson in this debate. You proved our point for us. Michael was hooked on pharmaceutical drugs. Drugs made from the people like phizer. Are you aware that you are more likely to die from aspirin (liver scerosis) than marijuana. Not one case has been documented in which marijuana is the cause of death. Marijuana has also been proven to be highly NON ADDICTIVE! Once again, please educate yourself before you speak on a topic you know nothing about. As for the second comment, it may be true some will abuse the laws. How is that different than pain seekers who go to doctors looking for opiates and barbiturates? It isnt. In fact, its safer. Why dont you go and find out how many people die of those drugs every year. And didnt one of our very own elected officials just get his 5th DUI for being high on...wait...what was it? Oh yeah! Prescription Pills! Thank you. Next please.
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Article comment by:
NO WAY
Marijuana should in NO WAY be legalized, for recreational use or medicinal use. We don't need to encourage people to get hooked on non-prescription drugs. Illegal drugs can kill you. Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson both died from being drug addicts.
People would come up with any "medical" problem or excuse, to have that marijuana. People will lie through their teeth, just to get hooked on it and crap.
Should medical marijuana be legalized? NO WAY!!!!
Posted: Sunday, October 25, 2009
Article comment by:
tim haering
Don’t be a pussyfooter. Don't be a dilettante. Don't be a piker. Legalize medical marijuana and it will be a race to the botom as seekers try doctor after doctor until they find one who will prescribe pot for them.
I see it out here in California, where it all began. I know someone who could not get a prescription while she served probation for OWI, but 14 months later, when she got her license back, she got her prescription.
For what ailment? Injuries she received in the OWI accident – injuries that have been healed for a year. And insomnia. I have more stories – reported allergies to other painkillers, migraines are popular -- can’t measure them, sport's injuries. I am convinced anyone can say anything, and the right/wrong doctor will write that scrip. And that doc’s name will spread like wildfire.
NO, don’t mess around with medical marijuana. Legalize all marijuana. To paraphrase Jesse Ventura on Geraldo a while back, “I know lotsa guys who drink and go home and beat their wives. I don’t know any pot smokers who do that.”
Angry drunks may bust your trunks, but stoners will never harm you. Pot will beget a slothful work ethic, but never violence.
It'll be an economic boost for farmers and tobacco companies. I'd prefer you end the corporate income tax, but legalizing marijuana is more consistent with you. Just go all the way. It’s coming, get there first.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
