I’d like to thank you for Margo Pierce’s article about State Sen. Robert Hagan’s medical marijuana bill (“Toking the Cure,” issue of March 2-8). According to polls, 80 percent of Ohioans support access to marijuana for medical purposes, and yet politicians are still afraid to speak out in public. This unwillingness to speak out is a result of voters not calling their representatives and asking them to support this kind of legislation.
If I may, I’d like to ask everyone who supports compassionate access to marijuana for legitimate medical purposes to call their representative and ask them to co-sponsor Senate Bill 74, the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act. If the people don’t speak, the politicians won’t move on this important legislation. It’s up to us to urge them to support this bill.
— Jim White Oregon, Ohio
Care for Sick
Thank you for publishing the excellent article “Toking the Cure” (issue of March 2-8). I would like to clarify two points.
First, I’d like to explain the image behind the article’s subtitle, “Medical marijuana isn’t about five hippies and a dog.” In January, I visited State Sen. Robert Hagan’s office with five other Ohio Patient Network members.
As I heard them eloquently tell their stories, I realized how damaging the negative stereotype of marijuana is to the sick and dying. Cannabis, as these patients powerfully showed, is no longer about hippies and the counterculture. In fact, the senator’s aide mentioned to us afterward that we, as ordinary citizens, might have more clout with legislators than highly paid lobbyists.
Secondly, I find it interesting that opposition to medical marijuana in this article appears to center around smoke. I agree that plant components can be made into pills, but medicine can also come in other forms like syrups, ointments, suppositories and vapors. As with insulin for diabetes, when one delivery system becomes problematic (injection) other less invasive ones (inhaled insulin sprays) are invented. That is, unless a failed public policy like prohibition is in place.
Cannabis prohibition forces patients to smoke the herb. Prohibition causes its market to adopt product forms that are easily concealed, transported and consumed but not necessarily most healthy. If cannabis were legal under the Ohio Medical Marijuana Act, patients could grow or acquire enough to consume it as baked goods, tinctures or vapors from vaporizers.
With more than 100 medical institutions acknowledging marijuana’s potential and with the issue of smoke resolved, perhaps Gov. Bob Taft, ODADAS and the Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati will join Sen. Hagan and support the OMMA. Perhaps they, too, will agree that it’s better to care for and comfort the sick than to arrest, prosecute and jail them.
— Mary Jane Borden Co-founder and Treasurer, Ohio Patient Network
Too Much to Ask?
I write in response to the recent article “Butt Out” (issue of Feb. 23-March 1). Opponents of a smoking ban in Cincinnati continue to try and frame the issue in terms of economics. This would be a great debate to have if opponents, such as the mayor and various bar owners, would care to divulge what they think a human life is worth.
If you die of lung cancer 10 years prematurely, how much have you lost? What would it be worth to get to meet your grandchildren? What would you pay to avoid being on a gurney in the OR having part of your lung removed? How much does three rounds of chemo cost you and your family both physically and emotionally? When the Greater Cincinnati Hospitality Coalition can answer these questions, we can have a debate on the economic impact of a smoking ban. Until then it’s a health issue, and even opponents of a smoking ban agree that second-hand smoke is harmful.
In terms of freedom of choice and the government’s authority to intervene, I would say this: Our government invades other countries to prevent them from harming us, so why shouldn’t the government choose to prevent its own citizens from harming one another?
The idea that smoking is a right is a myth. It’s a privilege, though a dubious one, and like many other privileges it can be and is regulated. If you want to smoke, fine. That’s your choice. But your privilege should end when others are harmed.
We’re simply asking that smoking be regulated in a manner that prevents harm to others. Is that too much to ask?
— Frank Dill, Blue Ash
Swizzle Sticks
A few errors occurred in the recent Swizzle section highlighting 156 favorite local bars and clubs (issue of Feb. 2-8). CityBeat regrets these errors and promises to do better next year. Here’s the correct information:
· Federal Reserve Piano Lounge is open six days a week (closed Sunday).
· Smoking Monkey Lounge is open three days a week (Thursday-Saturday).
· FYI, the Bay Horse Cafe has closed. We’re now down to 155 favorite bars.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2005.