Medical marijuana bill should be approved

3/30/07

It has nothing to do with legalizing drugs, and everything to do with easing suffering.
After years of failed attempts, a workable law allowing severely ill patients to use marijuana as a palliative is finally headed to a vote in the General Assembly. When it emerges, Gov. M. Jodi Rell should sign it, and give people in the late stages of a serious illness whatever measure of relief is possible.
There are legitimate questions about how the law would work, but its humanitarian basis is sound. Some people are troubled by the idea of people legally growing marijuana plants in their homes for personal use. Rep. Arthur J. O'Neill, R-Southbury, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, opposed the legislation because, he said, there is no form of marijuana that can be obtained without violating state or federal law.
"I wish the federal government would make up its mind," he said, and he’s right. In a better world, the distinctions between drugs on the basis of how much harm they cause would make sense, and be based on medical science, not politics. But this is where we are, and this bill can take a step toward rewriting our most harmful drug policies.
Connecticut has been down this road before, and in fact enacted one of the first medical marijuana laws in the nation in the 1980s. But the threat of federal prosecution has kept doctors from prescribing the drug. Once the medical community is freed from the risk of retribution, the law could make a real difference.
Rell has said that easing patients’ pain is a laudable goal, and that sentiment gives hope that she will see the wisdom of signing this bill into law. People with debilitating ailments like late-stage cancer or Parkinson’s disease are not looking for any kind of cheap high; they only want to feel better. We should give them the chance.
The argument over the nation’s overly punitive drug policies is for another day. This is about people who may not have much time left, and want to spend it in something other than constant pain. Until we can find cures, the least we can do is try to make people’s last days on Earth just a little easier.