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SternSkipper -> RE: Medical Use of Marijuana on the ballot in Massachusetts (9/25/2012 11:18:24 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kalikshama
While researching my other ballot thread, I discovered the three ballot questions in my state this year. The links have summaries and arguments. I'll be voting YES on all three
I too will be voting Yes on all 3 measure.
And it's funny, this perhaps only the second time I have had a tangible connection to the referenda. And on two, there's some real bittersweet irony here. My best friend in the whole world has two cancers running through his body and while he's given us the respite of agreeing to a chemo regimen that while it won't cure him, it will alleviate symptoms and perhaps put this off another six months or a year. He approached us all with the concept of ending his life when he becomes unable to deal with the matter when the time comes and there was a protocol established , but had it fallen upon me, I honestly don't know if I could have.
Without this law, it would have been a criminal act. And while the whole police/prosecutorial thing doesn't scare me, not finishing the job of raising the two kids I've alone due to the obvious specter of incarceration, should it come to that. I was both relieved and gratified this came along when it did. And I will have to admit that I now feel strange when after all these years of talking about this issue, I was never passionate regarding it.
However now, having looked my friend in the eye, and really considered what it all means on a personal level. And on a final note, it's funny, all these years I've been involved in public efforts to legalize marijuana, I find myself in an ironic position. I was at MassCann's very first meeting in a grow store in Worcester when there were only about 6 people in attendance. I even was one of the very "in your face" guys when it came to convince Steve Epstein, who drafts much of their legal documentation and initiatives (brilliantly, I might add) urging him to influence the rest of the group to take the hard route of decrim or legalization first (I have since dropped off from the group to raise kids ... big time commitment was involved). And now, when it looks like MedMJ is around the corner, the one person I know that might truly benefit, is just too damned sick to take advantage of it in the forms I could get it for him.
With all of this said, I would like to ask any of my Massachusetts neighbors if they can find it in their hearts, regardless of who you support in the races, to please make it to the polls and please support Ballot Question 2.
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