Thinking Out Loud - Medical Marijuana and Conservatism

As a conservative, I am against the overall legalization of drugs as a way to stop abuses and wars and crimes and victims. I hear all the arguments about legalizing these things from "it will increase tax revenue" to "it will put the drug cartels out of business" to "people will stop stealing and killing to support their habit." And I say in response that the cost of regulating street drugs like cocaine and meth and heroine will far outstrip any tax levies. I would say that people will not stop stealing and killing to support their habit because they kill and steal to support many legitimate habits such as smoking, drinking and sex. And as for the drug cartels, they will still be in business because there will always be a black market or street need for all these drugs. There will always be, as there are for such legal drugs as Oxycontin and Quaaludes, a need by people who really don't need them and cannot get a prescription for them (as will most definitely be required even if they become legalized because they are that dangerous).

That being said, I am about to tick off all my extremist conservative readers.

For all the arguments against the medical use of marijuana, I can give you one for the legalization of this controversial drug. And I am not going to start describing such pain management examples of people who want their last days to be livable.

Picture a woman waking up each day in severe debilitating pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Pain that not only cripples but deforms. Then imagine an underlying chemical imbalance in the brain that causes such severe depression as to be physical in nature. A depression that is so destructive in emotional, physical and relationship ways that most of us cannot even comprehend when the sufferer just wants to cut themselves and "let the pain out." Further, as this woman wakes up in this condition, imagine her child coming in and saying "pick me up, mommy."

Due to the fact that RA medication such as Embrel, Humira and the rest only work for a short period of time, and due to the fact that medications normally used for the chemical imbalances are not compatible with the RA medications (that don't work for very long anyway), this woman (only in her early twenties) can only roll over and spend the next 23 hours either sleeping or crying. The pain feeds the depression. The depression feeds the increase in bone loss through inactivity.

Now imagine that young woman has access to medical marijuana, which eases the pain of the RA and allows the depression to be manageable. Imagine that she can now get up and spend time with her child. She may not be able to pick the child up due to the bone loss associated with the RA, but she can laugh as he shows her a new dance he made up, or tells his first real joke. She is able to sit with him and answer his questions about why the ground outside is wet in the morning and why the yellow crayon is different than the blue one. As she battles her illnesses, she is able to be a mother and a sister and a daughter and a friend. She doesn't have to continually say to a non-understanding child why mommy doesn't feel well, all the time. She can function and contribute and live. All because she had access to medical marijuana.

Now you may say this is a rare case and doesn't warrant a law allowing the use of medical marijuana. And I counter that it is for this and all the other cases often quoted, such as giving someone comfort in their final days or taking the pain from cancer and chemo patients. I say it is for all these people that we need to stop looking at marijuana as the poster child for all the drug addicts and pushers and cartels throughout the world. Stop treating it like the opening of the floodgates to the worldwide spread of drug abuse. And start treating it like a medication for the potential relief of suffering. In decades past many other "drugs" were researched and used for medications we have today. Oxycontin is an oxycodone which is derived from opiates. Opiates such as heroine are linked to nefarious people and dark squalid rooms of abandoned homes. But without it, you would not have morphine and other pain medications. We need to stop looking at the popular misconceptions and start looking at how it could help people such as the woman referred to above.

For those who might read the example of the woman with the unlikely combination of Borderline Personality Disorder and Rheumatoid Arthritis as just being for dramatic effect, and responding that they can show real drug users and real crimes as fact for their position, let me just say this. The above woman is real. And this woman, in her early twenties, has to not only suffer from these crippling illnesses but struggle with the sad look on the face of her children who don't understand why mommy is "not feeling well" most of the time. Her family watches her struggle in pain each day to overcome the pain just to read to her children and push them, however briefly, on the swing. It is a fact that medical marijuana cold ease her suffering. It would not fix the problem of the diseases but it would give her and her children a better quality of life. And I am not talking for just a few months of relief from pain. But this would be for a lifetime. So a mother could watch her children grow and her children could spend years with a mother active in their lives. Although that would be an admirable reason alone, there is always such cases as terminal cancer and other life ending illnesses. that can and do receive relief from medical marijuana.

So the position of being a conservative who approves of the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes really isn't at odds at all. The desire to give someone the liberty to live a life free of pain and the wish to see children grow and learn from their mother is so in keeping with the real values of conservatism. To be conservative does not mean to be heartless. In fact, these values are stated clearly in our Constitution. ". . . promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity . . ." And in the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The ideals espoused by conservative values holds that doing what is possible to allow people to live a life free from pain, the liberty not to be considered criminals for something that is beyond their scope to change and pursue happiness in ways that do not infringe on the rights of others, is not only important, it is intrinsic. Although they would have you think otherwise, the opposition to conservatism does not hold the patent on compassion. It was conservatism that held to freedom from slavery. It was conservatism that pushed for more open doors for all. It is conservatism that demands accountability for actions. And it should be a deeply held conservative value to help those in need. In ways that show prudence along with compassion.

Although I often find myself at odds with the policies of the President, I would support his decision not to go after people and dispensaries who abide by the law of their states in which medical marijuana is legal. Perhaps this will open the dialogue within the States to expand the number of states that allow the use of medical marijuana.

As usual, agree or disagree, but I just hope it makes you think. Either way, this is just me, thinking out loud.