'Yes' on Amendment 20

'Yes' on Amendment 20

Oct. 19, 2000

Allowing the medical use of marijuana is a simple matter of compassion. The reality is that most Colorado’s can already get marijuana if they choose. It is hypocritical and cruel to prosecute those few it might actually help.

Amendment 20 would exempt patients suffering from serious or chronic medical conditions from Colorado criminal laws concerning possession or use of marijuana. It would require them to register with the state and carry a state identification card. It mandates that each case be re-evaluated every year and requires that marijuana use by anyone under 18 be approved by two physicians and by each parent.

Just as critical is what Amendment 20 would not do. The amendment specifically forbids anyone using marijuana under it provisions from possessing more than two ounces of pot. It does not allow marijuana use in any setting that is in plain view, in a place open to the public or in any manner that would endanger anyone else. It does not require health insurance to pay for pot and it specifically says employers do not have to make accommodations for its use.

Does marijuana really help with long-term pain and the side effects of treatments like chemotherapy? Opinions differ. But clearly a number of those suffering believe that it does.

The question then becomes: If someone seriously ill and in long-term pain has available to them something they believe will help them, should we treat them as criminals?

The answer is we should not.

Vote "yes" on Amendment 20.