Medical marijuana users can breathe easy

Welcome back to the good days, where state laws mean something and people who abide by them don’t get hassled by the federal government. The Justice Department announced that in states allowing medical marijuana, users and suppliers will not fall victim to federal prosecutors, so long as they’re in line with state rules.

This new policy does not mean a free-for-all, because prosecutors will continue to target those who are actually breaking the state law, which is why they are there…right?

We have come a long way since the Bush administration—thankfully—which was persistent about seeking out those who use or supply medical marijuana, regardless of whether or not they complied with state law. At least that is over and we are moving in a step towards the right direction.

Currently, the government counts 14 states that allow some sort of medical marijuana use. These states are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

In Maryland, however, the law only allows reduced penalties for medical marijuana users. California allows dispensaries for medical marijuana. In 1998, Oregon passed the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, which allows the cultivation, possession and use of medical marijuana for people with prescriptions. This law passed two years after the Californian medical marijuana law.

According to The Oregonian, as of Oct. 1, 23,873 Oregonians have medical marijuana cards. These cards allow them to have six mature cannabis plants, 18 seedlings and 24 ounces of marijuana.

Approximately 7,000 of the people who hold medical marijuana cards reported suffering from muscular conditions such as multiple sclerosis, 4,000 reported nausea and 1,000 have cancer.

If medical marijuana works for people with serious illnesses, why take that away from them? It has been proven to help those with serious ailments, including cancer. More importantly, why harass a law-abiding citizen? If someone is so sick that they need marijuana for medicinal purposes and are granted that through state law, why hassle them?

It is something that helps a large number of people and they are following state laws. Patients will be able to breathe easier without having to choose whether or not to feel worse due to illness or to get in trouble with the feds when they are in compliance with state law.

After all, the federal government does have bigger fish to fry and a limited amount of resources to fry them. Going after law-abiding citizens was a big waste of time, money, power and resources. Thankfully, those days are over.

The people opposing medical marijuana have the argument that it is still an illegal substance. Exactly: That is why patients get a prescription in order to legally use marijuana.

What it comes down to is that it helps people, whether those effects are due to the medical marijuana itself or people simply believing that it is helping them. Either way, it is helping people. So why take that away? Are you really going to tell a dying cancer patient that they cannot use their medical marijuana because it is a drug? No!

This is not the war on drugs we should be fighting. What about all of the other, more dangerous illegal drugs out there? What about with the extremely violent Mexican drug cartels that are selling illegal drugs to United States citizens to support other criminal activities?

These are the wars the federal government should be dealing with and I believe that if medical marijuana works, and you have a prescription for it, you should be able to use it. Leave medical marijuana to the states and leave the real drug wars to the federal government.

All in all, this is a step away from the Bush administration—and a step in the right direction.