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| TV Host Pushes N.J. on Medical Marijuana |
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Posted by CN Staff on June 08, 2006 at 08:24:04 PT By Robert Schwaneberg, Star-Ledger Staff Source: Star-Ledger 
New Jersey -- His voice quaking with emotion, TV talk show host Montel Williams offered this self-introduction: "I want you to meet someone who's not a drug dealer, not a dope addict, just somebody who's trying to get up every morning and go to work." Williams went on to explain how marijuana eases the symptoms of his multiple sclerosis enough to let him function. Registered with programs in California and Canada that permit possession of small amounts of marijuana for medical use, he urged New Jersey to adopt one of its own. Today, the Senate Health Committee is scheduled to discuss such a bill. Its sponsor, Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), said it is "basic human decency" to allow people with AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other afflictions to find relief through marijuana. "It's not a back-door attempt at wholesale legalization, as some have charged. I want to make that clear," Scutari said. Eleven states have enacted laws permitting the "compassionate use" of marijuana by patients who have a physician's certification that they need it for medical reasons. Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that those laws are trumped by the federal Controlled Substances Act, which prohibits possession of marijuana nationwide. "I break the law every day and I'll continue to break the law," Williams said. Scutari's bill says states are under no obligation to enforce the federal ban on marijuana. It adds that "99 out of 100 marijuana arrests in the country are made under state law," so passing his bill "will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill people who have a medical need to use marijuana." Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, Williams said he lives with twitching and constant pain. "I have tried every form of pain medication known to man," some of which produced debilitating side effects, he said. Finally, he said, a doctor recommended he smoke pot, and "immediately I slept through the night." He said he eats and smokes marijuana to keep his pain under control. "By doing that, I can go to work," he said. Snipped: Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/rxus9 Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ) Related Articles & Web Sites: CMMNJ The Cherylheart Foundation Committee To Hear Medicinal Marijuana Testimony A Compassionate Solution Montel Williams Joins Push for NJ MMJ Law Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 10:08:06 PT |
| It's wrong. It's so very wrong. Montel Williams didn't need to do what he is doing. He is fighting a very serious disease. People with a potentially fatal diseases speak the truth. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by afterburner on June 08, 2006 at 10:00:16 PT |
| I was just about to say that! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by FoM on June 08, 2006 at 09:51:02 PT |
| Montel Williams is not PUSHING anything. Stop using those words and wake up to the reality of medicinal cannabis. [ Post Comment ] |
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