Illegal

but why?

There's a natural drug that controls nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. This same drug effectively controls muscle spasms of multiple sclerosis and some seizures in epilepsy. And this drug improves the appetite and the disturbed behavior of those suffering from Alzheimers. The problem is, this drug is banned by the government. Get caught taking it and you'll be arrested. This drug is cannabis or marijuana. It is a very safe and effective pain reliever with very few side effects.

Some cancer patients report that marijuana is the only thing that controls the nausea caused by their chemotherapy. For some glaucoma patients, marijuana is the only thing that keeps them from going blind. For many chronic pain patients medical marijuana allows them to end or reduce their use of dangerous drugs such as morphine and Vicodin. This allows them to function far better which is wonderful for them and their families.

My name is Tom Bauman. I live right here in Dickinson. Fifteen years ago I had a massive stroke that ended my teaching career. I've been on disability ever since. My introduction to the Internet in 1994 opened a whole new world for me. The information on the web is mind boggling. It's like having the world's largest library in your living room. One day I read an article about cannabis and industrial hemp. I couldn't believe what I was reading! I learned that cannabis had medicinal uses, and the uses for industrial hemp were as mind boggling as the Internet.

Despite all these uses and medicinal values, it's illegal to even possess cannabis or the marijuana plant. The government classifies cannabis as a schedule one drug with no known medical uses and a high potential for abuse. Could it be that the government was right and all these experts writing articles about the safe use of marijuana were wrong? 0r, was this whole campaign against the usage of marijuana, historically speaking, as great a miscarriage of justice as the Salem witch trials, the slavery of African's, and the genocide of Native Americans; I was determined to find out why cannabis was so demonized.

I've learned all the medical marijuana hallabaloo is not about patient care. It's all about money that might not be spent on expensive prescription drugs if marijuana was legalized for medicinal purposes. Pharmaceutical companies would much rather have you buy expensive prescriptions rather than ingest or smoke a plant that grows like a weed. Many people believe that the real motive behind the drug war against marijuana is to stall research of industrial hemp. If hemp was developed to its full potential, it would greatly reduce the need for a large percentage of the petrochemical industry. Voters in ten states have passed laws legalizing medical marijuana, but Congress refuses to budge from the outdated 'reefer madness' position that criminalizes all use. Marijuana is medicine. Patient's should be able to get it.

My passion for the truth has consumed me. Since 1996 I've spent at least six hours every day tracking cannabis and hemp news on the lnternet. Every day I read news articles, editorials, and op-ed pieces in foreign and U.S. newspapers. I've concluded that mainstream media, for sixty years, has shaped the public perception of cannabis and hemp by promoting every myth and scare tactic supplied by the U.S. government. The media has reported that smoking pot leads to violence, that pot is a gateway to hard drugs and death, that pot kills brain cells, grows breasts on boys, and causes cancer. It's all a very big lie. There's a problem though in pointing this out. Voltaire once wrote. "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. "

What can I, Tom Bauman, a disabled school teacher and Internet junky, do to counteract these myths and scare tactics. By myself I can do nothing. However, thanks to the Internet I have help. I am going to start a website that has articles written by very influential and famous people who are critical of our war on some drugs. I include a short biography about each of these people so that you can decide if they are qualified to make the statements they make. Of course I'm afraid to do this. My reputation is at stake. I live in this town. I know what some of you are going to think about me although I don't even use drugs. Dresden James wrote, "When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic." Yet, I have to do this. I have to tell the truth in my corner of the world. I'm compelled to do so. I take comfort in the words of former Chief Justice Earl Warren, "Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for."

Others On The Bandwagon

Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico, is a health enthusiast who refuses to eat sugar. For fun he runs in triathlons. He says: "The first thing we should do is legalize marijuana."

Richard Brookhiser, senior editor of National Review magazine, underwent chemotherapy after coming down with cancer. Although he could afford the most expensive medicine in the world, he chose to become a criminal and use marijuana to curb the nausea from his chemo.

Francis L. Young, DEA administrative law judge, spent the better part of 1987 studying the effects of marijuana on patients taking the drug. He concluded: Marijuana in it's natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." Yet the DEA still classifies marijuana as a schedule one drug. Somebody is lying to us.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard University has spent over thirty years studying marijuana. He's a firm believer that marijuana is an inexpensive and effective medicine.

The medical use of marijuana is not going to stop. Far too many patients know that it helps them far too much. IT IS TIME FOR OUR LEADERS TO FOLLOW THE PEOPLE ON THIS ISSUE.