Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
According to Mr. Jay Evensen ("Voters aren't qualified to make marijuana decisions," June 28), Utahns are not able to judge whether medical cannabis should be made legal in Utah. He's wrong, and I am evidence as to why.
I suffer from advanced degenerative disc disease. The bones in my vertebrae rub against one another and pinch the nerves coming out the side. At times, the pain is unbearable. I tried everything Western and Eastern medicine could offer to relieve the pain.
And nothing worked, until my doctor – when I lived in Seattle, Washington – suggested I try cannabis. I was skeptical, and as a faithful Mormon, initially resistant to trying it. But I was out of options, so I did – and it helped significantly, better than anything I had used before.
But now I live in Utah, where I can't legally use the very thing that allows me to be a contributing employee, dedicated father and contributing member of society. The state classifies me as a criminal if I try and improve my health.
And that, contrary to Mr. Evensen, is what voters are going to have the option of deciding on with the ballot initiative in November 2018.
We're not asking voters to read scientific journals and pretend to be physicians. Nobody is suggesting that the electorate needs to brush up on their biology in order to render judgment. All we're asking is for voters to tell their government to stop punishing patients as criminals if they and their doctors believe cannabis can help.
And that is a decision all voters are absolutely qualified to make.
It's odd that we have never heard Mr. Evensen object to legislators casting votes on a wide range of issues. We have teachers, homemakers, farmers, developers and other professionals serving in the Legislature, each making decisions that affect the lives of countless Utahns – on subjects they know little to nothing about: economic development, water distribution, occupational regulation, education programs and more.
If our elected representatives are able to make monumental decisions for others, we should have the right to make similar decisions for ourselves. I've spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill pleading with legislators to stop criminalizing us patients and allow our doctors to get us the treatment that can help so many suffering Utahns. But our pleas fell on mostly deaf ears.
The public is not deaf on this issue. Every poll conducted on the issue of allowing medical cannabis in Utah has shown a strong majority of support. The Utah Patients Coalition released the latest poll, showing that 73 percent of Utahns would support the ballot initiative to "allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana as a treatment for cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other serious illnesses."
Mr. Evensen writes that "Medicine isn't a matter for democracy; it's a matter for qualified researchers who know what they're doing." But where is his objection to cannabis being classified by the federal government as a schedule I substance, effectively eliminating the ability to research it? Does he not know that there was no research involved in banning it decades ago, when prior to that time it was widely used as a medicine for millennia?
Research is important, and much of it is being done outside the United States in light of the federal government's unscientific ban. Israel, for example, has been the source of tremendous scientific advancement on the use and benefit of cannabis. This research should continue.
But patients can't wait years, or decades, for researchers to satisfy themselves, and hopefully bureaucrats and politicians. We have compelling needs now. We are suffering, and all we are asking voters is to tell police and prosecutors to leave us alone as we, along with our doctors, figure out what can make us whole again.
You and I are qualified to do precisely that.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Op-ed: Utahns are qualified to make medical marijuana decisions | Deseret News
Author: Nathan Frodsham
Contact: About Us | Deseret News
Photo Credit: Deseret News
Website: Salt Lake City and Utah Breaking news, sports, entertainment and news headlines - Deseret News
I suffer from advanced degenerative disc disease. The bones in my vertebrae rub against one another and pinch the nerves coming out the side. At times, the pain is unbearable. I tried everything Western and Eastern medicine could offer to relieve the pain.
And nothing worked, until my doctor – when I lived in Seattle, Washington – suggested I try cannabis. I was skeptical, and as a faithful Mormon, initially resistant to trying it. But I was out of options, so I did – and it helped significantly, better than anything I had used before.
But now I live in Utah, where I can't legally use the very thing that allows me to be a contributing employee, dedicated father and contributing member of society. The state classifies me as a criminal if I try and improve my health.
And that, contrary to Mr. Evensen, is what voters are going to have the option of deciding on with the ballot initiative in November 2018.
We're not asking voters to read scientific journals and pretend to be physicians. Nobody is suggesting that the electorate needs to brush up on their biology in order to render judgment. All we're asking is for voters to tell their government to stop punishing patients as criminals if they and their doctors believe cannabis can help.
And that is a decision all voters are absolutely qualified to make.
It's odd that we have never heard Mr. Evensen object to legislators casting votes on a wide range of issues. We have teachers, homemakers, farmers, developers and other professionals serving in the Legislature, each making decisions that affect the lives of countless Utahns – on subjects they know little to nothing about: economic development, water distribution, occupational regulation, education programs and more.
If our elected representatives are able to make monumental decisions for others, we should have the right to make similar decisions for ourselves. I've spent a lot of time on Capitol Hill pleading with legislators to stop criminalizing us patients and allow our doctors to get us the treatment that can help so many suffering Utahns. But our pleas fell on mostly deaf ears.
The public is not deaf on this issue. Every poll conducted on the issue of allowing medical cannabis in Utah has shown a strong majority of support. The Utah Patients Coalition released the latest poll, showing that 73 percent of Utahns would support the ballot initiative to "allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana as a treatment for cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer's and other serious illnesses."
Mr. Evensen writes that "Medicine isn't a matter for democracy; it's a matter for qualified researchers who know what they're doing." But where is his objection to cannabis being classified by the federal government as a schedule I substance, effectively eliminating the ability to research it? Does he not know that there was no research involved in banning it decades ago, when prior to that time it was widely used as a medicine for millennia?
Research is important, and much of it is being done outside the United States in light of the federal government's unscientific ban. Israel, for example, has been the source of tremendous scientific advancement on the use and benefit of cannabis. This research should continue.
But patients can't wait years, or decades, for researchers to satisfy themselves, and hopefully bureaucrats and politicians. We have compelling needs now. We are suffering, and all we are asking voters is to tell police and prosecutors to leave us alone as we, along with our doctors, figure out what can make us whole again.
You and I are qualified to do precisely that.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Op-ed: Utahns are qualified to make medical marijuana decisions | Deseret News
Author: Nathan Frodsham
Contact: About Us | Deseret News
Photo Credit: Deseret News
Website: Salt Lake City and Utah Breaking news, sports, entertainment and news headlines - Deseret News
