Weedpipe
Active Member
PHOENIX -- The campaign is on for a measure that would allow use of marijuana for medical reasons in Arizona.
The initiative, which has qualified for the Nov. 2 ballot, would allow creation of medical marijuana clinics in Arizona, much like those in several other states. The clinics would be regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Cancer survivor Heather Torgenson has battled brain tumors, and she says marijuana is the only thing that stops the nausea from chemotherapy.
Torgenson told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR's Jay Lawrence, "I tried everything. I was going to my oncologist asking her to prescribe anything to get rid of this nausea, this sick feeling. But nothing the FDA had approved, that she could write me a prescription for, worked."
Steven Meyers, campaign manager with the Arizona Medical Policy Project, said thousands of suffering cancer patients who could get relief with marijuana currently face a no-win situation.
"They either have to continue to suffer with severe, debilitating illnesses which in some cases are life-threatening or they have to go to the criminal market and risk arrest and prosecution."
Torgenson said there's no way to know if the marijuana she gets on the street is safe.
"I don't know. That's what hard is that I still don't know. It's all trust-based."
Opponents of medical marijuana claim it essentially is a start toward decriminalizing marijuana and object that tax dollars would be used to set up the program. They say it encourages drug use.
This will be the fourth time since 1996 that Arizonans have voted on medical marijuana.
Voters approved an initiative in 1996 that allowed marijuana use with a doctor's prescription. But federal authorities objected to doctors "prescribing" the drug rather than "recommending" it and the Legislature overturned the law. In 1998, voters rejected a pair of proposals that would have hindered legalizing of medical marijuana by requiring the federal government to approve it before a doctor could prescribe it. The last vote was in 2002 when voters rejected a proposal that would have made it legal for adults to possess small quantities of pot and have made it available free to patients suffering from severe diseases.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: KTAR
Author: Brian Rackham
Contact: KTAR
Copyright: 2010 Bonneville International
Website: http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1301994
The initiative, which has qualified for the Nov. 2 ballot, would allow creation of medical marijuana clinics in Arizona, much like those in several other states. The clinics would be regulated by the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Cancer survivor Heather Torgenson has battled brain tumors, and she says marijuana is the only thing that stops the nausea from chemotherapy.
Torgenson told News/Talk 92.3 KTAR's Jay Lawrence, "I tried everything. I was going to my oncologist asking her to prescribe anything to get rid of this nausea, this sick feeling. But nothing the FDA had approved, that she could write me a prescription for, worked."
Steven Meyers, campaign manager with the Arizona Medical Policy Project, said thousands of suffering cancer patients who could get relief with marijuana currently face a no-win situation.
"They either have to continue to suffer with severe, debilitating illnesses which in some cases are life-threatening or they have to go to the criminal market and risk arrest and prosecution."
Torgenson said there's no way to know if the marijuana she gets on the street is safe.
"I don't know. That's what hard is that I still don't know. It's all trust-based."
Opponents of medical marijuana claim it essentially is a start toward decriminalizing marijuana and object that tax dollars would be used to set up the program. They say it encourages drug use.
This will be the fourth time since 1996 that Arizonans have voted on medical marijuana.
Voters approved an initiative in 1996 that allowed marijuana use with a doctor's prescription. But federal authorities objected to doctors "prescribing" the drug rather than "recommending" it and the Legislature overturned the law. In 1998, voters rejected a pair of proposals that would have hindered legalizing of medical marijuana by requiring the federal government to approve it before a doctor could prescribe it. The last vote was in 2002 when voters rejected a proposal that would have made it legal for adults to possess small quantities of pot and have made it available free to patients suffering from severe diseases.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: KTAR
Author: Brian Rackham
Contact: KTAR
Copyright: 2010 Bonneville International
Website: http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1301994