Joint Session
by Don Wrege
I gather from reading the back of Bob Marley albums, that a cigar made
of cannabis would be called a "spliff." There is ample evidence that
smoking same can help stimulate the appetite, ease the symptoms of
nausea, reduce intraocular pressure (and apparently create a tolerance
for the stench of patchouli oil).
California voters have overwhelmingly approved the medical use of
marijuana although the Feds, to whom the War On Drugs is Big Business,
still interfere. Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Nevada voters will have
their say on the subject this November. There's a pot initiative on
Colorado's state ballot too (rarely are the words "pot" and "initiative"
used in the same sentence . . .) that would allow citizens with
"debilitating medical conditions" such as AIDS, cancer or glaucoma, to
use marijuana under a doctor's supervision to help alleviate their
suffering.
The Colorado vote on grass will be a straw poll as it turns out, since
Secretary of State Vikki Buckley has disallowed thousands of the
signatures on the petitions which landed the issue on the ballot. But
she did it too late. Her office's bungling allowed the ballots
distributed to voters to contain the bill, but the votes simply won't be
counted. (It's kind of like, there, and it's not there at the same
time, man. Heavy.) They don't call it The Mile High State for nothing.
The bill's supporters smelled something fishy (or Phishy) and suspicions
arose that the Secretary was purposefully mucking up the process so the
bill would never see the light of day. Upon closer examination of the
Secretary's record, even conspiracy theorists had to finally agree that
Ms. Buckley's history of mistakes and inefficiencies point to overall
incompetence in general, and no particular bias in this situation. I
don't know whether to be relieved or alarmed.
So sick people will just have to continue with traditional, synthesized
solutions that the medical establishment can trademark, control and
sell. We certainly can't have relief from pain growing in a patient's
own back yard--where's the profit potential in that? Politicians can
rest assured that the "wrong message" won't be sent to children (like
President Clinton's behavior sends the right one). And the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws reported last week that
cannabis is Colorado's fourth-largest cash crop at an estimated 140
million untaxed dollars a year. An AIDS patient partaking of this
harvest to relieve pain will be breaking the law the citizens will not
be allowed to change.
Light anyone?
