Rob Kampia
March 20, 2007
Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
On March 14, New Mexico's state legislature assured that New Mexico will become the 12th state to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. It also proved that the medical marijuana movement—based on science, compassion and plain common sense—is now unstoppable.
The New Mexico bill isn't law yet, but there isn't much left that could stop it. Not only did it pass both houses of the legislature by solid margins (the vote in the state Senate was an astonishing 32-3), Gov. Bill Richardson is a longtime supporter, so his signature—which could come any day now—is assured.
Indeed, the most noteworthy aspect of the bill's passage may be how little controversy there was. Medical marijuana legislation was supported by a broad coalition that included the New Mexico Public Health Association and the New Mexico Nurses Association.
The governor, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, hailed passage of the measure with a statement saying, "This bill will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases while including the proper safeguards to prevent abuse.” He called medical marijuana "a humane option for New Mexicans who endure some of the most painful diseases imaginable.”
What politicians have finally learned is that medical marijuana is one of those issues where science, compassion and good politics all come together.
On the scientific front, new data arrive almost daily. Just last month, a study in the journal Neurology demonstrated that marijuana is capable of safely relieving a type of debilitating nerve pain that causes great misery to thousands suffering from AIDS.
Not long before that, a University of California study linked medical marijuana to success in treating the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus (HCV): The drugs used to treat HCV are so unpleasant—causing nausea and other noxious side effects—that many patients fail to complete their drug regimens. But marijuana relieves these side effects, and in this study that led to more patients successfully completing treatment. Most importantly, it led to three times as many successfully ridding themselves of the deadly virus.
Medical marijuana relieves suffering in a number of situations where there is no effective, legal treatment. Multiple sclerosis patients, for example, commonly suffer a kind of nerve pain similar to what the AIDS patients in the Neurology study endured; again there are no legal drugs that are consistently safe and effective. TV talk show host Montel Williams has spoken eloquently of how marijuana relieves the intense pain his MS causes him every day, and science is increasingly backing up such anecdotal evidence.
Support for medical marijuana is growing on all fronts. Medical groups like the American Public Health Association and American Nurses Association are being joined by religious denominations like the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA), plus a variety of others, from Consumer Reports magazine to the Gray Panthers.
The American public, too, is solidly behind medical marijuana. An October 2005 Gallup poll found that 78 percent of voters supported allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana to reduce pain and suffering. Politicians are learning that supporting medical marijuana doesn't cost them support—it gains them votes.
At this point, the only real opposition is coming from the federal government, still stuck in 1937 and ignoring science in favor of a rigid, ideological opposition to medical marijuana. In late February the White House drug czar's office put out yet another "fact sheet" claiming there is no evidence that marijuana is a useful medicine, simply ignoring the recent research that proves otherwise.
But, as New Mexico's legislature has just proved, hardly anyone is listening to the White House on this issue anymore. Science, compassion and common sense are winning the day, and it's about time.
March 20, 2007
Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
On March 14, New Mexico's state legislature assured that New Mexico will become the 12th state to allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. It also proved that the medical marijuana movement—based on science, compassion and plain common sense—is now unstoppable.
The New Mexico bill isn't law yet, but there isn't much left that could stop it. Not only did it pass both houses of the legislature by solid margins (the vote in the state Senate was an astonishing 32-3), Gov. Bill Richardson is a longtime supporter, so his signature—which could come any day now—is assured.
Indeed, the most noteworthy aspect of the bill's passage may be how little controversy there was. Medical marijuana legislation was supported by a broad coalition that included the New Mexico Public Health Association and the New Mexico Nurses Association.
The governor, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, hailed passage of the measure with a statement saying, "This bill will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases while including the proper safeguards to prevent abuse.” He called medical marijuana "a humane option for New Mexicans who endure some of the most painful diseases imaginable.”
What politicians have finally learned is that medical marijuana is one of those issues where science, compassion and good politics all come together.
On the scientific front, new data arrive almost daily. Just last month, a study in the journal Neurology demonstrated that marijuana is capable of safely relieving a type of debilitating nerve pain that causes great misery to thousands suffering from AIDS.
Not long before that, a University of California study linked medical marijuana to success in treating the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus (HCV): The drugs used to treat HCV are so unpleasant—causing nausea and other noxious side effects—that many patients fail to complete their drug regimens. But marijuana relieves these side effects, and in this study that led to more patients successfully completing treatment. Most importantly, it led to three times as many successfully ridding themselves of the deadly virus.
Medical marijuana relieves suffering in a number of situations where there is no effective, legal treatment. Multiple sclerosis patients, for example, commonly suffer a kind of nerve pain similar to what the AIDS patients in the Neurology study endured; again there are no legal drugs that are consistently safe and effective. TV talk show host Montel Williams has spoken eloquently of how marijuana relieves the intense pain his MS causes him every day, and science is increasingly backing up such anecdotal evidence.
Support for medical marijuana is growing on all fronts. Medical groups like the American Public Health Association and American Nurses Association are being joined by religious denominations like the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA), plus a variety of others, from Consumer Reports magazine to the Gray Panthers.
The American public, too, is solidly behind medical marijuana. An October 2005 Gallup poll found that 78 percent of voters supported allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana to reduce pain and suffering. Politicians are learning that supporting medical marijuana doesn't cost them support—it gains them votes.
At this point, the only real opposition is coming from the federal government, still stuck in 1937 and ignoring science in favor of a rigid, ideological opposition to medical marijuana. In late February the White House drug czar's office put out yet another "fact sheet" claiming there is no evidence that marijuana is a useful medicine, simply ignoring the recent research that proves otherwise.
But, as New Mexico's legislature has just proved, hardly anyone is listening to the White House on this issue anymore. Science, compassion and common sense are winning the day, and it's about time.
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