As Goes Kansas, So Goes the Nation?
Kansas was the first state to embrace alcohol prohibition, and one of the last to end it.
Now, could it become the 15th to pass medical marijuana? Yesterday, Kansas state Representative Gail Finney (D-Wichita) introduced a medical marijuana bill.
Finney suffers from lupus, which makes her sympathetic to those with diseases such as cancer and HIV, and Finney thinks the chronically ill should be allowed to use the medicine that works best for them without having to fear being arrested or thrown in jail. Her bill would set up state-registered “compassionate care centers,” where those with recommendations from doctors could safely obtain marijuana for the treatment of pain or a debilitating illness. Finney’s bill also makes sure the money generated from medical marijuana stays in Kansas by requiring that the marijuana be grown in the Sunflower State.
However, not all Kansas lawmakers are as informed and compassionate as Rep. Finney. Rep. Scott Schwab (R-Olathe) says that marijuana “has no benefit for pain management,” and that, “all it does is make you crave another bag of chips.” Mr. Schwab should do his homework before he speaks. It’s not theory that marijuana is medicine; it’s fact, backed by 5,000 years of recorded history. Research has shown that marijuana relieves symptoms like nausea, appetite loss, muscle spasms, and certain types of pain. This evidence has been acknowledged by the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, and many other reputable health organizations.
Will the rest of the nation follow Kansas’ lead? We sure hope so.
22 comments
Talking about legalizing medical pot while banning a substance that acts like pot… all in the same week. I can never and will never understand lawmakers.
As an aging American who suspects that marijuana will be found to be genuinely helpful in the relief of arthritis and other aches and pains, I find it truly sad that anyone would try to make it more difficult for someone to use marijuana for relief of pain, improvement of appetite, or any of the other valuable uses of marijuana. The tax money that is wasted on marijuana arrests, prosecution, prison, and forced “treatment” costs the U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year, billions that are therefore NOT available for schools, health care, fighting terrorism, repairing our roads and bridges, and a hundred other vitally important social needs. Surely no one believes that imprisoning Americans for using a plant is a better use of our limited resources than educating our children, maintaining our infrastructure, and keeping our families safe from foreign terrorists?
Let’s put the drug dealing criminals out of business and free up our tax dollars to meet America’s real needs. Let’s tax and regulate marijuana, and let’s let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, maybe $100 a year for a permit to grow a dozen plants.
If they’re only now just introducing the bill, then they are FAR from becoming the next state to legalize medical marijuana.
If anything, Wisconsin is likely to be #15 as the bill there is already in committee waiting to be voted on. MPP should get more involved in lobbying efforts there.
MPP are you against patients being able to grow their own? I posted this all ready and the Blog vanished!
As I am seeing a lot of the no grow your own in the legislature.
The patients that need Cannabis the most CANNOT afford to by it.
Where is the provision for Health Ins. to pay for patients Cannabis in these no grow your own Bills.
I am seeing the no grow your own and no provisions for Health Ins. to pay for ones Cannabis as states trying to Capitalize on patients, which is just as bad if not worse than the Cartels!
MPP I am needing some answers on this.
Sorry but this bill is DOA there about to elect Sam Fucking Brownback as governor if he signs it then pigs are flying and jesus has come down to lecture me on being agnostic. I suspect several states will have legal recreational cannabis before Kansas even it gets out of a very restrictive med bill out of commitee much less passes it in a legislative chamber or acctuly ends up passing a bill. I agree with #3 focus on ballot iniatives or legislative chambers that were a chance for passage acctuly exists.
I totally agree with the Truth,and Concerned Parent.
I and 99% of the kansas city, ks news bloggers thought it was a bad idea to make another harmless substance illegal (months ago). I cannot understand why this is such a big deal. Yes they want to make K2 illegal, stating that it has all the negative effects of marijuana. What negative effects are they talking about (the munchies). I looked up k2 deaths and all were associated with a ski mountian. The police have already shut down the herbal shop that was selling it so they could investigate it further. They could have just bought some. Instead they trash the place and force the small business owner to shut down. Why? It’s not even illegal yet. Some policy maker in kansas decides to submit a bill to their house and senate thinking its a good idea, when the majority of the people are against his bill. Another example of politicians ignoring the people pushing policies to make criminals out of people who are not yet committing a crime.
Kansas will not pass this bill for medical mj. They are more boring and backwards than Missouri. They still have 2% beer and no hard liquor. If this passes I’ll kiss kansas.
There are real sensible people and then there are prohibitionist.
They are defiantly the most oppressive against ethnobotanicals. Have you heard about this?
http://EROCx1.blogspot.com/2010/02/bouncing-bear-botanicals-raided.html
From what I am seeing it is our own goverenment that wants to replace the drug cartels with themselves. Can anyone in politics prove me wrong?
Clarence, why wouldnt they? then they could legally…above board… sell the drugs they sell now. Right now it appears they are but the middle men trying to eliminate competion. Once they have control over it all they control the producers and have heavier influence over the countries its produced. Its all on the road to Empire. But what do I know.
I’ve wondered why the poppie crops in Afgan werent bought up and destroyed..then I got thinking…opps. Maybe they are getting “protection” money from the drug lords there in return for letting the crops be. Thats more money into the war machine coffers. But then again what do I know.
Demanding a bit much? If this compromise version isn’t even going to pass how do you expect a full on grow your own bill to pass? I’m all for ballot intiatives that go as far as they can but you take what you can get from a state legislative chamber especially one in Kansas of all frggin places. As I said above though this won’t even pass but in the states where there is a bill similar to this you should not sack it because it is not as good as you would like it to be. It’s a step in the right direction, compromise is how politics works you get what you can now and if your side of the compromise works better you can make an argument for more of what you wanted in the future. Again if it is a ballot initative I say go for the best you can get then you can gauge the people and if you win you will see better bills in legislatures. Thats how politics works folks nothing passes over night and anything that has below 70% support can take years unless you fight your battles intellegently and cut your losses where you can’t win. I recommend most people focus there attention to the inatives in California, Oregon, Washingtion and get involved in those efforts or at least call anybody you know out there to spread the word.
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You are right, all the politicians are worried to back a bill like this in such a conservative state. I thought Kansas will be the last state to do such a thing. It’s time to call, email, and write our politicians on how we really feel. It’s time to Kick them out and show them it’s what “the people want”! It’s all fun and games to these politicians who want to keep their ‘power’ and job. I thought the American people might eventually come together and kick all these power hungry, corporate worshiping jerk off’s out of office after the “America (the people) got screwed bail out program”. When are we going to wake up and DO something about it?
DON’T GIVE UP ON KANSAS… we need your help! We will be the last to reap the benefits of taxation of marijuana. I am sure all the money from Kansas is being funneled into Colorado. Now only if Missouri would pass such a bill!
I’m moving to Missouri.
Missouri has medical mj for the terminally ill. Pill form only.
I find it interesting that marijuana law reform groups feel that bills allowing patients to grow their own is too politically toxic for states like Arizona and New Jersey, yet the bill in Kansas allows for home grows. Among all the states that are either considering or have recently passed medical marijuana laws; how did Kansas end up with one of the more sensible bills? Granted, it hasn’t passed, and likely won’t. But I see no logic in setting the bar lower for New Jersey, Maryland and Arizona than Kansas. If it does by some miracle pass, Kansas, among these 4 states will be the one with the distinction of having the medical marijuana law that doesn’t have grievous flaws that needlessly criminalizes patients written into them. We should all demand lawmakers and reform groups to recognize that the goal of every medical marijuana law should be to not only protect patients from arrest; but to also ensure that patients have safe, reliable and affordable access to their medicine. Anything less is unacceptable. In the real world this requires both dispensaries AND the right to grow your own.
A medical marijuana bill that didn’t allow home grows might have been a step forward in 2001; but now it’s simply stagnates our whole movement.
i think they should make medical marijuana bill pass i have many friends they would get releef from there medical issues.
but for me and many of people out there acorss kansasthink it would help cuz of the tax money the state could make of it.l.
The prohibitionists will no doubt argue that legal marijuana outlts will have an impact on crime. Here are a couple of stories from Los Angeles that suggest legal mj outlets do NOT increase crime:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_14206441
“Despite neighborhood complaints, most medical marijuana clinics are not typically the magnets for crime that critics often portray, according to Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck….
“I have tried to verify that because that, of course, is the mantra,” said Beck. “It doesn’t really bear out.”"
And
abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7204706
“DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Officials say that in spite of budget cuts and an understaffed police force, L.A.’s crime rate reached a 50-year low… Officials credit effective policing for lower rates of violence in neighborhoods and a reduction in gang crime…”
So now that marijuana has moved off the streets and into the dispensaries, we are seeing LESS gang crime, just like the marijuana legalization movement has been predicting.
This kind of report needs to be brought forward every_single_time someone tries to pull the “mj outlets will lead to more crime” nonsense.
@yo-siph: The answer to yoru question lies with the fact that these other tates (Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey and Nevada) all have had debate on the subject for years, whereas Kansas is new to the party. When starting off with a legislative bill you might include everything you want, and then through debate you find out where the sticking points are. What specifically is your opposition against and why? Can you overcome those concerns or do you have to concede in order to gain support? With Kansas being so new to this they are asking for everything… like others have said this bill will go nowhere, but now the Legislators will have something to work with and can adjust their bill to gain more support.
Arizona – ballot initiatives dating back to 1996
Nevada – ballot initiatives dating back to 1998
Maryland – Medical Marijuana Defense becomes law – 2003
New Jersey – Legislation introduced to State Legislature in 2005
The debate in certain states has been going on for years, whereas in some states this is a new development. Like in Virginia where a medical marijuana bill was recently introduced (and defeated), but just last year a bill was introduced to stiffen the penalties for possession.
I’m 67 and I still smoke pot, been doing so for about 46 years when I started in the UK. I have arthritis, I’ve had a stroke, I’ve a completely mangled right hand, and I find that good old THC helps me handle all of these, but how do I get it legally?
funny that scott made a lot of his money through working with the sales of pharmacy drugs. No wonder he doesn’t like marijuana.
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