I am the director of a substance disorder treatment program and, have been in the field for over 30 years. I also serve on the executive committee for NCADD and serve on many coalitions to eliminate underage drinking, drug and tobacco use. Many of my colleagues, myself included, do not support this proposal. We support the utilization of sound prescribing practices for the reduction, or elimination of pain for the terminally ill patients and, the ones that are seriously ill. We are faced with a crisis concerning prescription drug misuse as it is. Adding a drug that has enough health risks of it's own is not a solution for Michigan.

Terrance!I do not agree to many people in this world are in pain and the man made drugs are not working and have to many side affects it's about time Marijuana is legal medically its natural.It does'not have any side affects and you cant prove it dose.People like you need to be put to pasture.Ive smoked marijuana since 1974 and do not have lung cancer and hold down a very good paying trade!So run your B/S to someone who cares.I think it should be legal just like beer and cigarette we might just have less people dieing!I also think you should concentrate on man made drugs cocaine,heroin,perscripions,LSD, alcohol,in your substance disorder meetings.Not something God put here to help people.

Posted by gro4me on 05 Mar 08 10:36 AM EST I was 25 years old when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. 7 years of conventional and experimental medical treatment left me in ruins. I had to take 25-35 pills a day. My stomach was ruined. I was nauseous all the time, and in constant pain. My weight dropped to 92 pounds. I saw my doctor every month for a stack of prescriptions and to have him coordinate with the Department Heads of my medical teams. I spent hours every month at the pharmacy. I had to spend hours at the ER 10 times a year, fighting for my life. In 1999 I joined the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP). Within 1 year I was off all drug except 2 hormone replacements. I now see my doctor once a year to renew my OMMP card and check the progress of my cancer. I haven't been to the ER in 8 years. And my weight is up to 120 pounds! You would never guess by looking at me that I have cancer.

Like Terrance, I too have been in the field for 30+ years but couldn't disagree more with his off-hand opinion that conventional pain practices are adequate to the task -- its something I've learned both through examination of that issue, and now from practical experience as degenerating knee joints have caught up with me. I became a legal cannabis user in California this year and while I thought I was quite well-versed in its potential to help me, I was astounded. Using very limited amounts of very high-quality cannabis essentially eliminates my pain within minutes without causing any unmanageable effects - my alternative is morphine. // Cannabis is what allows me to walk up my stairs in the evening rather than crawl. // Any potential problems with the proposal can be addressed in effective regulation, as California has learned from its experience. // I simply cannot understand how anyone whose profession it is to serve can turn their head to the human need behind this proposal. Let Michigan take the lead and demonstrate that it provide safe, effective, cost-efficient, and regulable cannabis to those who need it. Please.

Sadly, the opposition to the medical marijuana movement is led by people whose jobs and funding depend on demonizing marijuana. Last year I attended the MI Drug Court Professionals annual conference. The conference included a presentation by a DEA agent based in Detroit. The DEA agent's presentation downplayed prescription drug abuse and the crystal meth epidemic and was basically a long NCADD infomercial that was quoting old and discredited statistics about marijuana as a gateway drug for teenagers. He attempted to discredit the medicinal use of marijuana. For me, this part of his presentation was especially disturbing because I had a close friend who recently died from multiple sclerosis. I saw first-hand how smoking marijuana was the only drug that controlled her tremors that so seriously limited her quality of life.

I have treated both Chronic pain and addiction for years in my clinic. The idea of Marijuana being a gateway drug is as ludicrous as the idea that oxygen is a gateway drug. (I have never yet met an alcoholic or addict who did not breath Oxygen first!) And as far as prescribing appropriately, I do the absolute best I can with medications and am continually impressed by how much more functional some people become when they smoke or eat marijuana. Function should be our goal, not old worn out diatribes against any substance because of our ongoing societal prejudices against non pharmaceutical grade drugs.

Medical marijuana for legit reasons is a good idea. If this drug can help patients with their agonizing pain then why not subscribe it to them. If it is only being used for medicinal purpose then it can't be a gateway drug. These people/patients will understand that the marijuana they are given is to only be used when they need it. The benefits that medicinal marijuana could pose, especially to the 50,000 Michigan resident, would be greatly appreciated by those who need the drug. I agree, there could, and probably would, be instances where the drug could be abused, but with tight restrictions on the drug this could easily be avoided. Overall, I think medicinal marijuana would be a good idea.

Marinol is the legal alternative to marijuana. It's already available and FDA approved. It's amazing though that nobody wants to talk about that (or the vaporizer that was being developed). People want to smoke their "medicine".. which EVERYBODY knows is unhealthy. This is a legalization of ALL drugs game played by Soros and his friends.. it will never stop at "medical marijuana"

Here is the problem: most of us agree that there are some cannabinoids that may address pain or address other problems. We need research and pharmaceutical grade cannabinoid products to address these issues. Your initiative is going to be a nightmare just like California's. Stuff from Soros et alia just makes things worse. We have folks with insane amounts of pot running around with "recommendations" I have personally seen scrips written by the standard "pot docs" that address "unspecified stress", "schitzoaffective disorder" (which pot can cause or aggravate), and one guy who came in with one for stress because his pot garden got raided. Always, have someone who can look at the loopholes before you vote. If it is like California, it will become a nightmare. As a state and system, you will be profoundly sorry you started this process. If it comes from Soros, or one of his subordinate organizations-it is undoubtedly a bad deal.

You know; Your ABSOLUTELY RIGHT... All of you are. On one side of the fense, yeah this could be a BIG hassle (exspecially because our own law enforcement "oppose it".) And yes, there are options to take SYNTHETIC subsitutes; but in MARIJUANA there are over 400 active cabbanoids. So, when you take something like MARINOL, you only get a HEAVY DOSE of THC... Not the other conteractive chemicles. See the difference!? Not to mention the bennefits that come with learning about life cycles when planting, raising, and harvesting a once growing plant for the NATURAL gian of multiple types of reliefe! So, PLEASE if people who are seiously ILL, or sic, and dieing, or even just dealing with suffering from a debilliating desease, or a tramatic loss or case of anxiety; Let Them Find Their Own Way of Feeling Reliefe from those things. If marijuana so happens to be that thing, SO BE IT.

If we applied the same logic (that potentially harmful substances should be outlawed), we would have no pain medications in our medical pharmacoepia. We would also have no alcohol, tobacco, refined sugar, transfat, automobiles, etc. I have also worked in this field for three decades (or did, until I lost my career by providing cannabis to four dying people, and admitting it). I served as a Congressional advisor on substance abuse under two Presidents. A sizable number of my fellow advisors also supported reclassifying cannabis to allow its medical use, and that was 18 years ago. Our opinions paralleled that of EVERY national commission on cannabis (and every DEA administrative law judge) since Nixon. Lastly, my grandfather's Mississippi medical license allowed him to prescribe cannabis in the early 20th century. That substance is the only one listed on my grandfather's license that my cousin (also a MS physician) cannot prescribe today. That makes no sense.

I have a question for ANY naysayer that MAY have a logical answer. The human brain has at least 2 cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2. This is a scientific fact, and the only place cannabinoids are naturally produced are in the cannabis plant. If you are a logical person and put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4 then "WHY DO WE HAVE CANNABINOID RECEPTORS?" It has been determined that when the CB1 is bypassed straight to the CB2 you do not experience the euphoria from the THC but still get the medical benefits from the cannabinoids without the "HIGH". There are at least 420 chemicals indigenous to the cannabis sativa plant but only 64 of these chemicals are found only in the cannabis plant. That means 356 of these chemicals can be found in a myriad of everyday products from animal, vegetable, and mineral.

inre: REALITY CHECK: Heres a reality check for ya. Vaporizers do exist in a few different varieties. Anything related to "drug paraphenalia" is illegal to own and operate in most states. Marinol/Dronibinol does exist and helps a few certain cases for sure but in most cases due to the conditions of certain ailments/diseases proves ineffective. Example: Chemo patients CANNOT eat due to THE POISON being injected into their body and you think keeping down a Marinol pill is a REALITY? Patients on chemo are EXTREMELY NAUSEATED and SMOKE cannabis as an appetite stimulant. "Ever heard of "the munchies"? (USEFUL MEDICINE) Multiple Schlerosis patients need it to stop the BURNING TREMORS that make their lives a LIVING HELL and you would DENY them relief and an IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE for a short while before they MEET THEIR MAKER? What a pack of HEARTLESS BASTARDS you PROHIBITIONIST/OBSTRUCTIONISTS "REEFER MADNESS" crew are.

I am personally ALL for OUTRIGHT LEGALIZATION OF CANNABIS with resrictions SAME AS ALCOHOL...but I am MORE than willing to give that battle a rest IF the LEGITIMATELY SICK and DYING are at least given marijuana as a viable, legal medical option as it is with 12 states now and looking forward to Michigan following in MAINE and others footsteps by becoming the 13th state to join the medical marijuana community. Come on in and have a seat Michigan citizens the FIRE is WARM and the KOOL-AID TASTES GREAT.....

The reality is that ALL prescription medication have side effects and its a mistake to believe that Marijuana has the worst. We prescribe oxycontin, morphine, fentanyl for pain management, all have the possible fatal outcome of overdose. We need to have thoughtful response to these proposals rather then the reactionary hysteria that is not based on the science or the real needs of people.