Pubdate: Fri, 18 Jun 2010
Source: Montana Standard (Butte, MT)
Copyright: 2010 Montana Standard
Contact:  http://www.mtstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/609
Author: L. Sparks

MARIJUANA HAS GREAT POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT MODERN SOCIETY

Marijuana has never killed people unlike cigarettes, alcohol or
prescription pain medication, even Tylenol. Teenagers and adults are
dying every day from overdosing on legal prescription pain medications
even Tylenol. If you overdose on marijuana you go to sleep for a few
hours then you wake up alive!

Pharmacists and drug companies will always fight medical marijuana
because not only would marijuana replace many pain medications but it
would also help people with anti-sleeping disorders, eating disorders,
restless leg syndrome, and many others. The most important use would
be for stress relief, which is a leading cause for many health
problems. The drug companies make billions of dollars on many of these
medications that marijuana could replace.

Marijuana can be grown in your house or back yard, but the drug
companies and pharmacists would lose money if you could grow your own
medicine. We complain about the high cost of prescription medication
when we have a plant that can be a part of the solution and actually
save people money and is better for you than a chemical drug.

Medical marijuana has even created jobs for people. Marijuana is a
valuable resource for not only medical use but fuel, clothes, and
paper to name a few. Marijuana is not a gateway drug or a dangerous
drug, but we are told it is. Smoking marijuana makes people laugh a
little, makes them hungry and overall gives them a sense of
relaxation. Cocaine or meth are the dangerous drugs. If you believe
marijuana is a dangerous drug you are obviously undereducated in the
plant and are sending your kids the wrong

message, which may lead them to dangerous drugs.

We should be fighting these drug companies that push chemical
medications on us to relieve symptoms that marijuana could relieve
instead of fighting against medical marijuana. Marijuana is a
non-addictive drug. Alcohol, prescription pain medication, and
cigarettes are all addictive and legal and have the potential to kill
over time or from overdose.

The pharmacists said they want to see evidence that marijuana can
relieve pain and can be used for medical use. Well, since they are the
experts, why don't they show us evidence that it doesn't?

L. Sparks

[address redacted]

Butte 
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