Posted on 11/05/2004 6:41:44 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
AP Photo
A cancer patient holds a roll of MEDI-JUANA in Portland, Ore. With Montana's approval of a medical marijuana initiative, nearly three-fourths of Western states now have such laws.
Associated Press
With Montana's approval of a medical marijuana initiative, nearly three-fourths of Western states now have such laws -- while only two of the 37 states outside the West have adopted them.
Why is the West so much more receptive to the idea?
From a procedural standpoint, it's just easier to get pot issues on Western ballots because most states in the region allow such initiatives. Nationwide, just 24 states allow citizens to put issues on the ballot by petition, bypassing the Legislature. Eleven of those states are in the West.
But activists and political scientists also say Westerners are less willing than other Americans to tell their neighbors what they can and can't do. And historically, Western states tend to be in front on social trends.
''I would guess many of the people that voted for it probably don't use marijuana, but they don't want to say their neighbors can't,'' said Steven Stehr, political science professor at Washington State University.
''Westerners have a stronger belief in kind of individualism in the old-fashioned frontier sense,'' said Sven Steinmo, a University of Colorado political scientist and board member for the Center of the American West.
The population also is newer than the rest of the country and states don't have deeply ingrained traditions, said David Olson, political scientist at the University of Washington.
''Our politics in the West are much less constrained ... and it gives opportunities for initiatives like the death with dignity issue in Oregon or medicinal marijuana. You name it,'' Olson said.
Montana has become the 11th state in the country -- and the ninth Western state -- to allow medical marijuana. The approval came even as Montana voted by wide margins to ban gay marriage and to re-elect President Bush, a Republican.
''We always say in Montana we're extraordinarily independent, so we'll vote for contradictory things,'' said Jerry Calvert, political science professor at Montana State University in Bozeman.
The Montana initiative passed 62 percent to 38 percent, support that marijuana reform groups say was the highest ever for a medical marijuana ballot initiative.
"... many of the people that voted for it probably don't use marijuana, but they don't want to say their neighbors can't ..."
"Westerners have a stronger belief in kind of individualism in the old-fashioned frontier sense ..."
"Our politics in the West are much less constrained ... You name it," Olson said.
OK, I will. What about the right to keep and bear arms, including those recently banned in "oh so progressive" California, and including concealed carry?
You self-righteous, pompous, piece of academia-head-in-the-sand liberal.
"We found that 67 percent were using medical marijuana to control severe pain," she said in an interview yesterday about Oregon's experience. "I think about 10 percent were cancer and another 10 percent reported using it for HIV or AIDS."
-- cannabisnews.com
Pain? Nearly 70% for good ol', run of the mill, golly it hurts (and no one can say it doesn't, ha-ha) pain?
Wow! Glad to see that the citizens of Oregon rushed to pass this all important initiative to get medical marijuana into the hands of these patients suffering from that illness that no FDA approved and tested drug can handle ... pain.
What a joke. The well-intentioned citizens were duped by the pro-legalization dopers.
ping-a-ring-a-ding-dong.
Let's face it - marijuana is quite possibly a miracle drug, a veritable panacea!
Chaps your hide, eh, rp?
This guy certainly thinks that's the case. I believe this is the same guy that's on probation for medical malpractice.
(I hestitate to call him a doctor).
You mean other than the fact that it's against federal law?
Wrong. Medical marijuana is known as Marinol and is widely available through prescription. Check the DEA website.
Well, when you said "medical pot" followed by "an 80 yr old granma smoking a doobie" I naturally assumed you were discussing the non-Marinol version of medical marijuana.
My mistake.
I don't think the anti-medical-marijuana people will ever "get it". Then again, maybe if, God forbid, someone they know and love finds themselves battling a disease that can be helped, or at the very least, made more comfortable, by the use of medical marijuana, they will find God, and finally get over their prejudices. Some of the same people who proudly say they support our military for all the freedoms we have been blessed with because of their sacrifices, are the same ones who vehemently deny FREEDOM to medical patients throughout this country.
They don't believe in individualism ... but most of the other eight pro-medical-marijuana Western states do.
That is a very lopsided victory.
Interestingly, Montana also gave President Bush one of his most lopsided State victories, 59% to 39%.
It's just the idea of people smoking doobies that's a turn off, and having lived in a college dorm, I understand. On the other hand if pot becomes associated with senior citizens and handicapped people, that might do a hell of a lot to curtail recreational pot use!
Knock yourself out. Just try to make it one whose daughter used the drug for relief while dying of cancer.
Is this our new method of researching and approving drugs in the U.S.? Anecdotal stories?
He'd rather see people addicted to hydrocodone or Oxycontin.
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