Group Pushing For Legalized Marijuana In Pa.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― A growing number of states have legalized medical marijuana and Pennsylvania lawmakers are now considering doing the same.

Supporters call medical marijuana humane, but opponents say it's just a stepping stone to legalizing the drug entirely.

"I've been using medical marijuana and I haven't had any seizures for two years," Robert said.

When Robert suffered a head injury and developed blackout seizures, prescribed medications either didn't help or left him with debilitating side effects.

That all changed when he began purchasing and smoking medical marijuana.

"There would be security at the door, they'd look at your card and buzz you in," he explained.

In Washington state, where medical marijuana is legal and where Robert lived until recently, he had a medical prescription card and could buy marijuana from any of a number of so-called compassion centers.

But since moving to southwestern Pennsylvania, Robert, a husband and father of two, must get his pot illegally.

"It's making me to break the law and I'm not a law breaker," he said. "Now, you go through the black market and you're supporting a drug dealer who is turning around and selling it to children or you don't know what's going on."

The state legislature is now seriously considering making marijuana a prescription drug for people like Robert with specific medical conditions, but opponents say it will make pot more available to everyone.

"In many ways it's a joke. Almost anyone who wants marijuana can get it under the umbrella of medical use," Dr. Neil Capretto of Gateway Rehabilitation Institute, said.

He says despite a widely-held belief to the contrary, marijuana is an addictive and potentially dangerous drug that should be controlled. But he says the legalization of medical marijuana has opened up the floodgates in states like California.

"In California, one of the top reasons -- if not the top reason -- people are prescribed marijuana is for stress," Capretto said. "Almost everyone qualifies for that diagnosis."

Medical marijuana is now legal in 14 states, but unlike California where marijuana businesses have been popping up like taco stands, many of those states report success in keeping the drug regulated.

Pittsburgh attorney Patrick Nightingale heads the local chapter of N.O.R.M.L., the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which wants to make pot legal for all citizens of age, but has taken a lead role in the support of medical marijuana.

"We have been told time and time again from medicinal users in Pittsburgh, Butler County, Beaver County and Washington County that they derive significant relief for Multiple Sclerosis, AIDS, nausea associated with chemo therapy -- people who are not interested in sitting in the park smoking a joint and throwing a frisbee -- people who believe they derive significant medical benefit," Nightingale said.

Robert, for one, opposes the blanket legalization of marijuana, but says he and others with medical conditions should not be denied.

"I mean I don't break the laws," he said. "I'm forced to do this to get my medication."

There are two medical marijuana bills in front of the legislature, one before the House and the other before the Senate and according to polls, they do have the support of a majority of Pennsylvanians.

NORML Pushes For Legalized Medical Marijuana In Pennsylvania - kdka.com