Medical marijuana should be approved : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

State Rep. Kelly Alexander, D-Mecklenburg, recently introduced a bill (H 577) that would, if passed, allow physicians in North Carolina to recommend medical marijuana to their very sick and debilitated patients, if the physician thinks it is the best course of treatment.

Fifteen states, plus Washington, D.C., protect sick individuals from arrest for using marijuana medicinally. It is time the General Assembly protect our patients from arrest and prosecution as opposed to sending them to jail. After all, these are patients, not criminals.

Contact your representative and let him or her know that as one of his or her constituents you support medical marijuana, and ask your legislators to support H 577 and help protect North Carolina’s sick residents.

You can show your support for medical marijuana on June 7 by attending the medical marijuana public awareness event at the Legislative Building auditorium. Please respect the decorum of the legislative process and your elected officials and dress professionally.

Jack Hayworth
Greensboro

retiree

June 3, 2011 - 7:17 am EDT

Are those supporting this proposal also against people smoking cigarettes? If so, then there is no need to smoke the pot since it would also give people llung cancer and lead to other lung diseases. The argument for medicinal pot doesn't hold up since there are many other drugs which offer relief from pain and nausea.

elsoots

June 3, 2011 - 12:49 pm EDT

AMEN to you there is drug an the mrket now to spot the pain. People just want the smoke it , if you vote for this we can go back to smoking anything because IT HELP my pain.

Snapper0274

June 3, 2011 - 7:34 am EDT

The concept of medical marijuana is a joke. All one has to do is say "Doc I have a back ache and smoking pot really helps the pain". Prescription in hand. Either legalize pot or keep it illegal, not this wishy washy in the middle concept of medical marijuana. Pot is readily available for anyone who wants to use it anyway, whether for medicinal or recreational purposes.

dubya

June 3, 2011 - 9:17 am EDT

The flower children of yesteryear are flexing their political mussels...Next up: taxpayer funded pot for the poor and disenfranchised.

terrier2003

June 3, 2011 - 9:31 am EDT

something tells me that it would be those people who recieve the medical weed.

oh good grief

June 3, 2011 - 10:38 am EDT

Article said: ". . . would, if passed, allow physicians in North Carolina to recommend medical marijuana . . . ."

Recommend? or prescribe?

Also, if impaired by "medical" marijuana and caught driving "impaired," does the "but my doctor recommended that I take marijuana" statement out by the side of a road prevent a law enforcement officer from writing a ticket for DWI? Or does a DWI ticket get issued and then in a court of law is a doctor's "recommendation" overriding and the charge automatically dismissed by the court system? Just curious.

I will say, though, that, most unfortunately, there are loads of people out on the highways and byways who drive each and every day who are "impaired" in their thinking and/or coordination from recommended/prescribed drugs such as mood elevators, sleeping aids, painkillers. As if holding a blasted cellphone to one's ear and driving with one hand wasn't bad enough for the rest of us to have to deal with on the streets, highways and byways.

Can you tell I have just about had it with drivers who have no business driving in public?

Abruti

June 3, 2011 - 10:47 am EDT

I don't think the prescription would fly. From what I've seen (and smelled) recently, there are a lot of people already driving under the influence of pot.

I support legalizing marijuana period. Should have never been illegal in the first place. Makes as much sense as prohibition. The real reason for making it illegal is quite interesting reading, actually. I agree with Snapper0274 that the wishy-washy approach is silly.

Badgolfer1

June 3, 2011 - 12:20 pm EDT

I see that you once again have written about this same subject. It was just May 18th that you previously did this before and at that time comments were enabled as well by the NR.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/05/17/article/state_should_legal...

pragmatist

June 3, 2011 - 12:40 pm EDT

Government should stay out of people's lives. Right?

DarkHell

June 3, 2011 - 1:54 pm EDT

What are we going to do with all of these people who want an excuse to get stoned? Politicians never cease to amaze me.

June 3, 2011 - 1:56 pm EDT

I dunno. Let them get stoned without having to have an excuse?

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