[Vision2020] Legalizing Medical Marijuana

[Art Deco]

I agree that the time for legalizing medical marijuana is long overdue.  It is difficult to understand the non-emotive part of opposition to this.  Cocaine, heroin, etc have long (read: centuries) been used in medicine.  Many of the really potent prescription pain killers available today are synthetic opium derivatives, and much more expensive, addictive, and with dangerous side effects than marijuana.

Under the right conditions, I'd support generally legalizing marijuana also.  I wonder also if legalizing it would reduce the over consumption of alcohol and its consequences for some people.

Here is another consideration.

"No man is an island."  -- John Donne.

This is a poetic way of stating what we have now came to realize with advancing knowledge:  Everything every person does affects the world and others in it.  Most of these effects are small, almost immeasurable, but some are not, especially cumulatively.

Meth use is one with horrible/tragic consequences for almost all that venture there.  It also has tragic/horrible consequences for the user's children, friends, family, employers, etc.  The amount of harm that comes into the world from meth use is egregiously more than marijuana use.  Hence, the amount of resources spent combating meth use/manufacture/distribution ought be much, much more than that used to combat marijuana use.

I believe that alcohol abuse is a much more serious problem than marijuana use.  When I lived in Boundary County, I knew a great number of people who used marijuana, and many, many people who abused alcohol.  Seldom did the marijuana users end up in court resulting in actions from their marijuana use, but according to the two magistrate judges who I knew well, about 75% of their time spent in criminal matters concerned cases where excessive alcohol use was a factor, about half of these were repeat offenders whose previous offenses were ones where alcohol was a factor.

The arrests and some times the actual behavior that resulted in the arrests from alcohol related offenses in Boundary County were sometimes videotaped.  Along with the magistrate judges and many law enforcement personnel, We wondered/discussed what the effect would be of continuously broadcasting these tapes on local access TV.

In light of Donne's observation, ought we not spend resources, including creative thinking about prevention and deterrence, combating problems in proportion to the harm they cause?

W.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Rumelhart 
  To: Tom Trail 
  Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 10:06 PM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Legalizing Medical Marijuana



  I'm glad to see some movement in this area.  Of all the drugs that are 
  available, legally or otherwise, marijuana seems to be one of the least 
  dangerous.  I'm all for legalizing it completely so that we can invest 
  our efforts in tackling the truly dangerous drugs more efficiently.  
  Marijuana use is not something I'm particularly interested in, but it 
  doesn't have the devastating effects that cocaine, heroin, and some of 
  the more exotic drugs do.

  I'm not a big fan of legislating who can do what to their own bodies, 
  but the more potent drugs that are immediately addictive or nearly so 
  are dangerous enough that I can see the need for intervention in the 
  interest of stopping mistakes that cannot be easily undone.  Marijuana 
  doesn't seem to be in the same category, from what I've read about it.

  Criminalizing people, sometimes with lifelong consequences, because they 
  smoked an herb that is less dangerous than tobacco has always seemed 
  like a really stupid idea, in my opinion.  This bill at least helps out 
  those to whom marijuana is known to have a positive effect.  The next 
  step would be to legalize it for everyone and free up the tax dollars 
  that have been invested in enforcing the laws on it's usage and 
  incarcerating those who have done nothing else wrong.  It might even 
  take some of the cash flow away from the very groups that are making the 
  Mexico border into a militarized zone.

  Paul

  Tom Trail wrote:
  > Visionaries:  Some questions have come up about the process of developing
  > legislation for legalizing the use of medical marijuana.  During the past 18
  > months I have met with citizens around the state who suffer a great deal of
  > pain from conditions such as brain cancer, AIDS, and a variety of other
  > chronic illnesses.  Medical marijuana is the only substance that brings
  > them relief from their severe pain.
  >
  > The majority of states in the West have legalized the use of medical
  > marijuana.  This was done via the initiative process rather than the
  > legislative route.  In Idaho the initiative processes is very expensive
  > and difficult compared to surrounding states.   Therefore, it seemed that
  > the legislative route was the best way to go.
  >
  > During the past year I worked with contacts in other states who had
  > passed via the initiative route the legalization of medical marijuana.
  > Draft legislation was developed and reviewed, and then I asked my other
  > state contacts for their input.  I was about ready to introduce the
  > legislation in this past legislative session when I learned that New
  > Jersey had passed via the legislative process a bill which was considered
  > one of the toughest among the 14 states who have legalized the use of
  > medical marijuana.
  >
  > We all know that Idaho is a very conservative state so my contacts around
  > the state recommended that the New Jersey model might be the best one to
  > follow.  I worked closely with Robert Capecchi, Legal Analyst, of the National
  > Medical Marijuana Program in Washington, D.C. and his team to review the
  > proposed legislation.  I met with Mr. Capecchi and Assembleman, Don Murphy
  > (Republican) from Maryland last December in Washington, D.C.  Don led the
  > successful effort to legalize medical marijuana in the state of Maryland.
  > During the months of January and February the review process continued
  > until we finally reached agreement that we had a good proposal for Idaho.
  > It, obviously, was too late in the session to introduce the proposal.
  >
  > I've already held meetings with stakeholder groups in the Treasure Valley
  > and have good contacts in Sandpoint, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Hailey.
  > The plan is to hold a series of town hall meetings this summer around
  > the state (at my own expense) inviting all of the stakeholders including
  > legislators to attend.  We also plan to meet with a group of stakeholders
  > in Boise with Governor Otter.  We will also be meeting with the Idaho
  > Medical Association,  law enforcement agencies,  Department of Health and
  > Welfare officials, and many others as the process moves forward.  We are
  > now in the process of selecting a state coordinator and applying for
  > several grants.
  >
  > As you can see, there is a great deal of work involved is working with
  > this type of legislation.
  >
  > Rep. Tom Trail
  >   


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