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Former attorney general has change of heart
By Hempology | June 20, 2007
Times Union, Albany, NY
19 Jun 2007
MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE
Two years ago, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, was one of the few state leaders calling for New York to adopt a humane medicinal marijuana law. George Pataki, who was governor at the time, was opposed, perhaps because he was seeking to burnish his tough-on-crime credentials as a possible 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Eliot Spitzer, who was attorney general in 2005, and the state’s chief prosecutor, was also opposed. The measure went nowhere.
But now Mr. Spitzer is governor and he says he has had a change of heart on medicinal marijuana. Before, he says, he was thinking like a prosecutor. Now, as governor, he says, he has come to recognize the beneficial effects that marijuana can have for chronically ill people and he is prepared to sign a medical marijuana law that is “properly structured.”
The Legislature should send him one. The palliative benefits of marijuana are well documented. For many cancer patients, marijuana is the only substance that helps ease the nausea that accompanies chemotherapy. Other victims of chronic illnesses also cite the relief that marijuana can bring, including the television talk show host Montel Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Ideally, Congress would pass a federal law allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana, but the lawmakers have not shown the political courage to do so. As a result, more and more states are taking the initiative.
Allowing the use of marijuana under a doctor’s supervision is no different than a patient being prescribed morphine or other pain killers. The argument of opponents — namely, that marijuana is a gateway drug and legalization for medical purposes would lead to rampant abuse — has never had any merit. The issue has always been about pain, and how to ease it. The sooner Gov. Spitzer signs a law structured to that effect, the better.
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