Madison NORML

Madison: Wisconsin media responded to the Nov. 16 Capitol press conference announcing the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act with a flurry of coverage. News reports included widespread radio and television news coverage, articles on the internet, where it was also carried live and archived by Wisconsin Eye. In addition articles and supportive editorials appeared in a wide array of Wisconsin daily newspapers.

Madison's Wisconsin State Journal, the state's second largest daily, issued an editorial on Nov. 19, "Let Desperate Patients Have Pot". The editorial noted, "A doctor should be able to recommend marijuana to a Wisconsin cancer patient suffering from severe nausea, loss of appetite and pain. More than a dozen other states have legalized medical marijuana. Wisconsin should, too."

Wisconsin's Gannett Media dailies also came out editorially in favor of the JRMMA, sponsored by Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison). In an editorial carried by many, if not all of the Gannett dailies around the state, "Time to legalize medical use of marijuana".

"The time is right for Wisconsin to act on legalizing marijuana for medical use. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said recently that the Justice Department would not enforce federal drug laws in states that permit medicinal use of marijuana and Gov. Jim Doyle said he would sign the bill if passed by the legislature. The legislature should pass the bill. It makes no sense to ban a drug that has proven to be medically beneficial when physicians are legally prescribing more toxic and addictive drugs." (Oshkosh Northwestern, 11/19/09).

The Wausau Daily Herald published an identical piece, also on Nov. 19, as well as the Appleton Post Crescent, and likely the rest of the dozen plus papers in the chain in Wisconsin.

On Friday November 20, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl offered his perspective, "Relief, not reefer, is reason for bill".

Stingl wrote, "It will seem strange at first to have marijuana sold in storefronts rather than alleys. But the product is more likely to be pure and safe, Erpenbach said. Doctors already can approve much stronger drugs, and this would be another form of medicine."

Also on Friday, an unexpected source, the online Milwaukee Biz Blog, carried a piece by Alan Gaudynski, a former Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin executive, "Legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin"

Gaudynski, first noting he had undergone surgeries for health problems, continued, "Although I am not a marijuana user, I've read reports that people with certain types of cancers and other types of debilitating diseases find pain and anti-nausea relief when smoking marijuana. If we could devise a low cost way to deliver it to appropriate patients through prescription from a doctor, and purchased from a legal outlet, like a pharmacy, I am all in favor of it."

Wisconsin patients are finding hope where it had not been for many years. The Dec. 15 State Capitol hearing, set for 10am in Room 412 East, should be a very interesting and for many patients, emotional day. To stay updated on the JRMMA, visit JRMMA.org, Is My Medicine Legal YET? or MadisonNORML.org. Send a prewritten letter to your WI State Legislators.