Montel Williams: Medical marijuana should be legal

This story particularly caught my attention...I e-mailed a copy to my local newspaper and asked them to print it as a letter to the editor..very good story. For those of you believing marijuana to not help anyone...read this please.


NORML.ORG US MO: OPED: Medical Use of Marijuana Should Be Legalized

Missouri
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You probably know me as a talk show host and, perhaps, as someone who for several years has spoken out about my use of medical marijuana for the pain caused by multiple sclerosis. That surprised a few people, but recent research has proved that I was right: right about marijuana's medical benefits and right about how urgent it is for states to change their laws so that sick people aren't treated as criminals. The Illinois General Assembly is considering such a change right now.

If you see me on television [10 a.m. weekdays on Channel 4 in St. Louis], I look healthy. What you don't see is the mind-numbing pain searing through my legs like hot pokers.

My doctors wrote me prescriptions for some of the strongest painkillers available. I took Percocet, Vicodin and Oxycontin on a regular basis, knowingly risking overdose just trying to make the pain bearable. But these powerful, expensive drugs brought me no relief. I couldn't sleep, I was agitated, my legs kicked involuntarily in bed and the pain was so bad I found myself crying in the middle of the night.

All these heavy-duty narcotics made me nearly incoherent. I couldn't take them when I had to work, because they turned me into a zombie. Worse, these drugs are highly addictive, and one thing I knew was that I didn't want to become a junkie.

When someone suggested I try marijuana, I was skeptical. But I also was desperate. To my amazement, it worked after the legal drugs had failed. Three puffs and within minutes the excruciating pain in my legs subsided. I had my first restful sleep in months.

I am not alone. A new study from the University of California, published in February in the highly regarded medical journal Neurology, leaves no doubt about that.

You see, people with MS suffer from a particular type of pain called neuropathic pain: pain caused by damage to the nerves. It's common in MS but also in many other illnesses, including diabetes and HIV/AIDS. It's typically a burning or stabbing sensation, and conventional pain drugs don't help much, whatever the specific illness.

The new study, conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams, looked at neuropathic pain in HIV/AIDS patients. About one-third of people with HIV eventually suffer this kind of pain, and there are no FDA-approved treatments. For some it gets so bad that they can't walk.

This was what is known as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the "gold standard" of medical research. And marijuana worked. The very first marijuana cigarette reduced the pain by an average of 72 percent, without serious side effects.

What makes this even more impressive is that U.S. researchers studying marijuana are required to use marijuana supplied by the federal government, marijuana that is famous for its poor quality and weakness. So there is every reason to believe that studies such as this one underestimate the potential relief that high-quality marijuana could provide.

In my case, medical marijuana has allowed me to live a productive, fruitful life despite having multiple sclerosis. Many thousands of others all over this country - less well-known than me but whose stories are just as real - have experienced the same thing.

Here's what's shocking: The U.S. government knows marijuana works as a medicine. Our government actually provides medical marijuana each month to five patients in a program that started about 25 years ago but was closed to new patients in 1992. One of the patients in that program, Florida stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld, was a guest on my show two years ago. If federal officials come to town to tell you there's no evidence marijuana is a safe, effective medicine, know this: They're lying, and they know it.

Still, 39 states subject patients with illnesses like MS, cancer or HIV/AIDS to arrest and jail for using medical marijuana, even if their doctor has recommended it. It's long past time for that to change.

Illinois state Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has introduced a bill - - SB 650 - to protect patients like me from arrest and jail for using medical marijuana when it's recommended by a physician. Similar laws are working well in 11 states right now.

The General Assembly should pass the medical marijuana bill without delay. Sick people shouldn't be treated as criminals.

"Sick people shouldn't be treated as criminals. "

Nice quote, so true also.
I like it when I see people on tv, famous people that I expect not wanting to have anything to do with pot, turn out that they're in support of legalization.

The whole movement needs some big name people on board spearheaded by someone like Montel. It's only when the big name celebs get behind a cause that people start to pay attention. Not fair - but true.

Is there anyway I could help this cause? Im not just another pot smoking statistic :/

im beginning to think right..the people who are so "THOUGHTFUL" of the people who suffer with MS are the people who smoke weed and want to legalize weed, they will not legalize it without a cause soif they do legalize it for MS use, what will it do for the rest of the society who will be smoking weed and still getting busted?

what will they say after it has been legalized for those uses, will it make the penalty less severe if you dont have MS and just using it to get high?

i believe were going to have an increase in MS, Glaucoma, and other illments which benefit from marijuana use for some reason

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Originally Posted by CheebaMan

i believe were going to have an increase in MS, Glaucoma, and other illments which benefit from marijuana use for some reason

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People are already quite aware that what we're told about marijuana isn't true..and given that is the reason that there was a legalization option on colorado and nevada's election ballots last year. People know that it isn't as harmful as alcohol and tobacco, nor is it a 'dangerous drug.' it will be legalized very soon, but as far as I'm concerned, there are people who are using this to improve their quality of life..and they have to break they law to do this. The laws should be changed.

increase in MS, glaucoma and other ailments...so do you think people are going to inflict themselves somehow with diseases to legally get high? lol

that was a good read, it makes me happy to see that marijuana is helping people and that it is coming from people who are celebrities so to say....
new mexico had medical recently legalized to, because bill richardson cares for sick people and wants to help them get rid of their pain...
thanks for that post i enjoyed reading it