Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010
Subject: #431 Maryland Considers Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
MARYLAND CONSIDERS MEDICAL CANNABIS DISPENSARIES
**********************************************************************
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #431 – Monday, 1 February 2010
In Maryland, emergency medicine physician and state Delegate Dan
Morhaim, (D., 11th District), is introducing a bill to allow the
licensing of marijuana dispensaries. The proposed law will also
authorize Maryland’s Departments of Agriculture and Health to monitor
medical cannabis in the state. In the Maryland Senate, David Brinkley
of Frederick (a Republican) has signed on as the legislation’s co-sponsor.
The poignant letter below, in support of the medical marijuana bill,
is a reminder marijuana news and letters are getting increasing
traction in the media. But in a February 1 Baltimore Sun blog (and
elsewhere) http://mapinc.org/url/JiaOnnrg the Sun’s Kelly Brewington
frets over a potential “backlash against medical marijuana.”
Writing letters to the editor to newspapers in Maryland and nearby
areas (Virginia, the District of Columbia, etc.) about this proposed
bill helps people remember the possibilities that access to medical
marijuana opens up, and how it might affect those they care for.
Contacts for many newspapers may be found at http://mapinc.org/media.htm
Maryland state representatives may be found at http://capwiz.com/norml2/home/
and contacted directly.
Updated facts on medical marijuana you may wish to use are at
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54
Articles and opinion items about medicinal cannabis are posted daily
in MAP’s unique archive of drug policy news http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm
. With MAP’s newsbot http://drugnewsbot.org/pot you can follow news
about medical cannabis right as it breaks.
**********************************************************************
Pubdate: Mon, 01 Feb 2010
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2010 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Author: Samuel Owings
MEDICAL MARIJUANA COULD SAVE LIVES
My Brother died this past November, after a three-month illness in
which he was neither diagnosed or treated for any specific disease.
He spent one week in a local hospital, four weeks at Johns Hopkins and
didn’t eat a square meal for three months. A team of the best doctors
available came up empty handed regarding a diagnosis or treatment, so
brother Dorsey eventually dwindled away and died.
It is a known fact that medical marijuana enhances the appetite and
mood, but not one doctor was able to prescribe medical marijuana,
which alone might have saved Dorsey’s life. Without food and proper
nutrition combined with a lack of any diagnosis for a viable
treatment, my brother is no longer with us.
Let this be a wake-up call for everyone, including the medical field,
that not every illness can be treated with a pill or a surgery.
This is the 21st century. Fourteen States have legalized medical
marijuana. New Jersey just legalized it, the state can tax it, and the
agricultural industry will benefit from it.
Now is the time to pressure our lawmakers to pass the bill being
introduced by Dr./Del. Dan Morhaim to license marijuana dispensaries
and authorize the state departments of agriculture and health to
monitor the drug’s production and distribution.
I truly believe Dorsey would be alive today if a doctor had been able
to prescribed him medical marijuana. Please contact your legislators
and tell them to support this bill.
Samuel Owings, Baltimore
**********************************************************************
PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER
Please post copies of your letters to the sent letter list
(sentlte@mapinc.org) if you are subscribed.
Subscribing to the Sent LTE list will help you to review other sent
LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches.
To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form
Suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism
Center
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
**********************************************************************
Prepared by: Doug Snead * MAP Editor www.mapinc.org * International
Drug Policy Analyst * www.drugnewsbot.org
=.
=.