I follow President Obama on Facebook and have been impressed with the White House's savvy with the social networking website. Before today I had never posted a comment there...but a video they distributed this morning got me typing, mainly becuase of the title"The Cost of Inaction"...Here's my comment (1 of over 350)
Mr. President,
There is one sustainable, community based health care solution already successful for hundreds of thousands of Americans - and available to millions more: Medical Marijuana.
Regulated in 14 states and the District of Columbia many who are under-insured, without insurance or those who cannot afford prescriptions have found relief with affordable, scientifically proven, domestically produced medical cannabis.
The cost of the federal government's inaction on medical marijuana is that MS, cancer and AIDS patients along with many others living with debilitating medical conditions are thrown in jail or made to be refugees: fleeing to states that do not persecute citizens for their doctor-recommended choice of treatment.
Medical marijuana has easier solutions than overall health care cost reform. Simply remove marijuana from Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act. President Nixon's 1972 "Commission on Marihuana" led by Pennsylvania Republican Raymond P. Shafer asked that marijuana be placed in Schedule II of the CSA and that personal possession be decriminalized.
No matter the outcome of the current health legislation, medical marijuana will continue to be an important part of American's health care networks.
"The Cost of Inaction" is an irony felt most particularly by the millions who have already contacted you regarding therapeutic cannabis policy. We have felt the harshest 'Cost of Inaction' since 1970.
Sincerely,
Chris Goldstein in New Jersey (a medical marijuana state)
Want to know what I really think about the health care debate and marijuana? Read: OS exclusive: Pot option left out of Health Summit
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Comments
I wish they would read your letter openly on the floors of Congress and it should be personally delivered to every representative.
his political foes are against. We still need one prominent politician to take this cause as his/her passion play, make it their number one issue.
Until that happens, we can hope for stupidity to end but I am
still booking my vacation this Sept. to Amsterdam, to at least live as a normal person for a few days.
Why do you believe that Obama favors legalization? A year ago, when he held a town meeting to answer questions that had been submitted via internet, he ridiculed those who had asked about it, even though, as I recall, it was one of the most popular questions asked.
Let's approach this logically in that, although deadly alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals are all legal, a substance that never kills and has tremendous powers to improve health remains illegal, so what's REALLY going on?! The answer is that obviously, those in powerful positions have something to lose if marijuana is made legal.
Law enforcement agencies are very dependent on marijuana users, those "criminals" who aren't violent, rarely do harm to anyone or anything, rarely even own guns, yet are "criminals"....how wonderful for law enforcement to deal with such people!! And cops can pretend they're "doing something" when in fact, marijuana users are no threat to society. However, drunks are a threat every time they get in a vehicle. Same with pharmaceutical users. Big Pharma also would lose in that keeping marijuana as unavailable as possible cuts down on the competition for recreational drugs, and as we all know, pharmaceuticals are increasingly the recreational drug of choice.