Pubdate: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 Source: Northwest Herald (IL) Copyright: 2010 Northwest Herald Newspapers Contact: http://www.nwherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2762 Author: Victor Polz SUPPORTS NATURAL REMEDY To the Editor: As someone who has seen the benefits of medical marijuana personally, it is unconscionable for the lawmakers in the state to withhold vital treatment to patients. After open-heart surgery with many complications, one of which left me blind, I was seen by several eye specialists and was told there were no manufactured drugs to expand the blood vessels in the eyes - that sometimes you just have to trust in God. As it turns out, marijuana, created by God, does exactly this, among other benefits. This country and state are enforcing a law that is unconstitutional and unsupported by every study ever done even by the Drug Enforcement Agency. See Francis L. Young's ruling of Sept. 6, 1988, in which he states "the evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance..." Do some research, and you would find that the state police, the American Medical Association, the Nurses Association, the AARP, and numerous others support a change. Victor Polz Malta - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom