Should Michigan Make Medical Marijuana Legal?

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There are sick and suffering patients across Michigan who currently use medical marijuana with their doctors’ recommendations, and others who would like to do so but fear the threat of arrest and jail. It’s simply cruel to view cancer, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis patients as criminals for attempting to alleviate their pain.

Michigan patients and their loved ones deserve compassion and piece of mind, not harassment and the threat of jail. These are people like:

•    Robin O’Grady, a Clarkston resident whose daughter Caprice, a recent college graduate, succumbed to T cell lymphoma this past July. Robin provided Caprice with medical marijuana during her final days, to reduce her nausea and provide some measure of much-needed comfort;

•    Dr. George Wagoner, a retired physician from Manistee, whose wife of 51 years, Beverly, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January 2007 and passed away six months later. Dr. Wagoner provided Beverly with medical marijuana to help her cope with the effects of chemotherapy, noting, "It's legal to dispense drugs like morphine and Demerol but it's not legal to dispense marijuana, which has such a beneficial effect for some people who are desperate and in terrible trouble. I think that's outrageous;"

•    Lynn Allen, a hemophiliac and Lansing resident who acquired Hepatitis C and AIDS from blood transfusions during the late 1970s and found that medical marijuana greatly reduced his suffering. However, the danger of being arrested compelled him to shun this effective medicine out of fear; and

•    Deb Brink, a former oncology hospice nurse and minister’s daughter from Grand Rapids who was diagnosed with leukemia and suffered severe nausea, finding that marijuana was the only thing that helped.

None of these suffering Michiganders are criminals, and Proposal 1 would bring our laws in line with compassion and common sense.