Medical Marijuana in the US

Recently I contacted my congress person about Medical Marijuana to see where they stand. I received an interesting response, including the following:

"The prohibition of marijuana began with the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 and was further enforced by the Controlled Substances Act passed in 1970. In the more than three decades since its enactment, drugs have become stronger and potentially more dangerous.

On April 17, 2008, Rep. Barney Frank introduced H.R. 5843, the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults. If enacted, H.R. 5843 would remove federal penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use. H.R. 5843 is currently pending consideration by the House Committees on Judiciary and Energy and Commerce.

You may also be interested to know that Rep. Frank introduced another bill, H.R. 5842, the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, that would allow states to decide whether individuals may use marijuana for medicinal purposes. This bill is pending consideration before the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

I was left unsure by the email if this person is for or against Medical Marijuana, tho they lead me to believe they are in support of it. I did however find them to be aware, and thought I would pass along the historical and current events related portion of the email here.

Personally I have researched this in my usual way, by reading anything I can get my hands on. I posted about some of that research previously. I believe that marijuana is no more or less dangerous than alcohol, and in fact less dangerous than cigarettes, especially if eaten rather than smoked. We once had a prohibition against alcohol in this country, and it was found to be useless, and to criminalize behavior that would be better left to the decisions of aware and consenting adults rather than governed by officials who have better things to do. I would rather the actual criminals be put in jail rather than the grandmothers, cancer patients, and responsible adults ingesting THC. I hope that Representative Frank is successful in moving those Bills through.

Blessed be,
Sistah Shanti