We hear about campaigns to legalize marijuana all over the country every single day – but how often do you hear about a campaign to make marijuana illegal again? This is a new one to me – and hopefully this will be the one and only campaign of this sort. There is a group in Montana, called Safe Montana, which is currently gathering petitions for an initiative that would repeal the medical marijuana laws in the state.
This is just a bad year to be a medical marijuana patient in Montana – it was just recently that the courts upheld a decision that would severely restrict patient access. There are currently 13,000 individuals who are registered medical marijuana patients, and unfortunately, because of the new law implementation, over 10,000 of them will go without needed medicine.
The Safe Marijuana campaign claims that the majority of the patients are abusing the system for recreational use and that the 3 patient per supplier limit should be plenty to provide late stage cancer patients and epileptics with access to medicine – that is, unless their ballot initiative actually makes it through.
However, they neglect to realize that not all medical marijuana patients have an obvious physical ailment. Some people use it to treat depression or anxiety – and with much more success than any Xanax or any other pharmaceutical drug available.
I mean honestly, haven’t you hear commercials for depression medications with “suicidal thoughts or actions” as a side effect? I’ve never read a story about someone smoking a joint and then killing themselves, have you? This campaign is a scary thing – if they manage to succeed, who is to say other state’s conservative groups won’t start to do the exact same thing?
“We know that there’s nothing good about federally illegal schedule 1 drugs,” he (Steve Zabawa) said.
This statement alone tells me that this group has never bothered with hearing any of the truths about marijuana, none of the scientific evidence that shows that it is beneficial not only to those who are already sick, but that it can help prevent illness as well. It’s really sad to see people so easily persuaded by lies of the past and upholding laws that were made under false information from decades ago.
The good news is there is also an initiative in the works that could potentially repeal the 2011 law that was recently upheld and will be implemented within the next two months. They have not yet been approved this for signature gathering, but I’m sure once they do, they will already have 13,000 people waiting to place their signatures on a petition.
Cannabis has saved my life. What business does anyone have to get between my doctor and myself. These people did not care when I was on a pain killer that kills 1000’s each year but when I find a natural medicine with no fear of death it all of a sudden becomes there business to stop me from taking a dangerous drug?
As far as there kids argument: How many youths have tried nicotine, alcohol,caffeine,pharmaceutical pain medication,unprotected sex ?
Kids experiment, we all did as youths. Some chose to keep smoking weed, some chose to keep drinking alcohol, some chose to chew or smoke cigarettes.
The answer is not prohibition of marijuana, the kids will still get there hands on it. The answer is ACTUAL EDUCATION and not this bull crap you see on TV. Educate the kids on the facts > marijuana does have medical benefits, but it also has negatives aspects that come with it. Educate the children with truth and not propaganda (they are smart enough to tell the difference)