MARIJUANA, THE POOR MANS MEDICINE

Marijuana in, Michigan, should be recognized as, “the poor man’s medicine”. It should not be regulated by FDA. Drug companies should never be allowed to process it, or, sell it. Registered users, and, First Nation (Native Americans), people who use it should be respected. They should be able to obtain it at dispensaries, or grow it for themselves. People who are harassed and publically exposed by police, and unable to grow it, should be supplied by the state. The state currently provides no protection for growers.

Users should be allowed to grow marijuana on their property, without the harassment of police, or neighbors. It is an alternative to prescription drugs. Currently, drug companies control all other medications. Drug companies work closely with insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies, to control prices and maintain steep profits. They would like to control marijuana, of ban it. Drug companies own or control every drug in America. Known users of marijuana are treated as, third class citizens. Legislators are threatening to pass laws revoking driving licenses for users. They do not say the same about cigarette smokers, alcohol users, or, prescription drug users. Companies are supported for firing smokers, fat people, and marijuana users; creating a new class of poor people – and they want to eliminate Social Security, the minimum wage, Medicare and Welfare – programs that we pay for; all-the-while, taking tax cuts and claiming to boost our sagging economy. They call that, Smaller Government.

Over a million people in, Michigan use or have used marijuana. Many registered users were non-users, prior to doctors’ recommendations. Those people are now scrutinized by police who have obtained their information from the registry; although, they deny it – in the same way, NSA denies spying on, American citizens. Cops are currently requesting to have legal access to lists of people on the, Michigan registry, to more effectively harass them. They spend one million, four-hundred, thousand dollars in each county, each year, looking for marijuana. Meanwhile, we worry about unemployment, wage losses, home foreclosures, and rising crime rates. The money used against marijuana users, might be spent better by creating jobs.

Legislators claim that alcohol, when used in moderation can be beneficial. Alcohol and cigarettes contribute to more health problems and deaths than any other drugs – however, Michigan counts on the use of addictive products such as, alcohol, cigarettes, and necessities like gasoline for extreme taxation. Marijuana is not physically addictive.

Most prescription medications have warnings of hazardous side effects. Prescriptions for pain often damage internal organs and bones; yet, drug companies recommend them, even though they are often addictive. The same legislators who work closely with drug companies, pass laws allowing employers to drop health insurance coverage. Hospitals and doctors deny assistance to people who are unable to afford insurance. Prescription drugs are overpriced, or priced too high for poor people to afford. Euthanasia is against the law in Michigan. Doctors and hospitals openly discriminate against marijuana users, refusing medications and assistance to them. Drug companies and their associates, corporations and oil companies maintain the greatest profits, because they control everything, even elections.

Seventy percent of our people in, Michigan are in favor of using marijuana for alternative medicine. It has helped free people of addictive substances. Marijuana helps people who have debilitating nerve damage, chronic illnesses, and muscular disorders -- it may even cure some diseases. More than half the people in, Michigan, have at least tried Marijuana; many of them experienced little, or no effects from using it. Instead of passing laws to impede and prevent licensed users from obtaining it, it should be decriminalized. People who use it responsibly are not criminals.

Johnny Appalachia – First Nation American