How should I talk to my dad about medical marijuana?

Ok, so here is the deal. My dad suffers severe pain every day in his knees, ankles, and sometimes back. He is also completely against cannabis. He believes all the Above the Influence crap, thinks its a gateway drug, kills brain cells, etc. etc. He has also come over alcoholism and caught me smoking. How should I handle this?

I think it's more a matter of showing him concrete, valid facts and literature about the benefits of cannabis. Two good places to start are the links below:
Erowid Go to plants & drugs/cannabis
Marijuana Law Reform - NORML Go to medical use

With some people, all the talk in the world won't make a difference. But concrete facts and balanced information are a good start. Still, you have to be aware that some minds are completely closed shut on this and other matters, so know that going in. If what you were trying to say above is that he's overcome alcoholism, then also be aware that he may have perfectly valid reasons why he should steer around cannabis. Despite the fact that cannabis itself isn't addictive, folks who're aware of addiction troubles in themselves need to be allowed to make decisions regarding psychoactive substances themselves in peace. There are plenty of addicts out there who can't just get high like a normal person and let that be it, not because of anything inherently sinister or dangerous in cannabis itself but because of their own tendency to want to overuse a substance or amplify its effects with other substances in the quest to get more of that feeling.

So that's a long way of saying give him some facts and educate him, but recognize that he needs to make that decision for himself based on what he knows of his own nature when it comes to substances.

I'd say, just suggest it carefully and see how he responds. Also, try to make him look at more neutral site or sources of information so he could be more unbiased. Last of all, don't defend weed too much, or he'll shut close and prolly won't be able to be persuaded...
Just my :twocents:

Id say you probably won't convince him, mainly because you said he has overcome alchoholism. If he percieves mary J as a vice he'll most likely be afraid that he'll be powerless to smoke it all the time. You would have to be very convincing, try to get him to talk to a pot doctor, its just unlikely he would accept his sons advice on something like this.

You're just going to end up in an argument with him and bring on his suspicion. It'd be best to just let it be.