Medical marijuana questioned

By CHERYL FRANKENFIELD
Collegian Staff Writer

Medical marijuana might be more accessible to patients because of new initiatives some states have passed.

U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., introduced House Resolution 372 to express an opinion from the House of Representatives that medical marijuana should not be approved through state-level initiatives because the drug is "dangerous and addictive."

But initiatives were passed in the last elections in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon regarding the use of medicinal marijuana.

Mark Greer, from the Media Awareness Project, said these initiatives allow people to vote directly on decisions in their state, but implementing the initiatives is difficult because state law and federal laws often bump heads, he added.

In September, Renee Emry-Wolfe, a multiple sclerosis patient from Michigan who uses medicinal marijuana, protested the anti-medicinal resolution introduced by McCollum. The U.S. Department of Justice is prosecuting her for smoking a marijuana cigarette in McCollum's office, according a press release from the Marijuana Policy Project.

Emry-Wolfe's trial was to begin last week but was postponed at the last minute said Chuck Thomas, the project's director of communications.

The group, based in Washington, D.C., and founded by Penn State alumni, evaluates marijuana policies and provides information about the physical, social and economic affects of marijuana use.

Marijuana is used medicinally to ease nausea, muscle spasms and chronic pain for patients with AIDS, glaucoma, cancer and multiple sclerosis, retired Penn State professor Julian Heicklen said.

But Dr. Edward Rosick, doctor of osteopathy at Ritenour, said there are indications marijuana causes short-term memory loss and might lower testosterone levels in men. There are no definitive long-term studies regarding the benefits or drawbacks of marijuana use.

Whether or not marijuana offers benefits to patients, Heicklen said the decision should be up to the individual.

"We want to remove criminal penalties," Thomas said about people who are using medicinal marijuana. National polls show more than 50 percent of Americans support removing criminal penalties for medicinal users of marijuana.

Medical cannabis clubs, where patients can obtain marijuana, have been shut down because of the serious conflict that exists between state and federal laws, Heicklen said.

In Pennsylvania, If a person is caught with a marijuana cigarette, he is handcuffed and taken to jail even if the drug is being used for medicinal purposes, Thomas said.

Heicklen said marijuana has been subjected to a propaganda campaign.

"It's part of (the) great American madness," Heicklen said. "We (already) use all sorts of (prescription) drugs with serious side effects."