Anyone who has watched South Park before is familiar with Mr. Mackey, the school’s counselor, and his oft repeated phrase, “Drugs are bad, m’kay.” Mr. Mackey’s reason for why drugs are bad? “You shouldn’t do drugs. If you do them, you’re bad, because drugs are bad. It’s a bad thing to do drugs, so don’t be bad by doing drugs, m’kay.”
It’s strange how much people who oppose Measure 74 sound like Mr. Mackey.
Measure 74 is on the ballot and would allow farmers to grow marijuana and sell their crop to medical dispensaries throughout the state. It would allow individuals who rely on pain killing drugs a secure source of medicine, without having to take morphine, Valium or other potentially harmful and addictive drugs.
Sam Chapman is a junior at the University of Oregon, a political science and philosophy major, and the president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. The group has been heavily involved with Measure 74, hosting forums and debates to get people informed.
“There were two main focuses for our program,” Chapman said. “To make sure students are registered to vote and then to get out the vote. We did a lot of phone banking and we linked up with the Democratic Party, which supports the measure.”
Chapman has a personal connection to the movement, a vested interest in seeing Measure 74 pass. It was Jim Greig who got Chapman involved.
Greig lives in Eugene and has been in the forefront of the medical marijuana debate for many years. Greig suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and glaucoma, and said marijuana has helped him.
“I met Jim. He recruited me to help get Measure 74 on the ballot,” Chapman said. “At one point he couldn’t move below the neck. He was prescribed Valium, and it was basically killing him. Then he switched to marijuana, and now he’s able to get around in a wheelchair.”
Marijuana has a stigma attached to it. It’s the “gateway drug.” In the War on Drugs, it’s one of the main targets.
“It does have a stigma,” Chapman said. “During the Reagan and Nixon years, it was viewed as a deviant social norm, and it had to be eradicated. But 90,000,000 Americans have tried it at least once. Eventually, states are making up their minds.”
It certainly seems that way. Proposition 19, on the ballot in California, would completely legalize marijuana for personal use. But here in Oregon, we’re not talking about general legalization. The measure is simply trying to get medicine to patients.
“If you’re prescribed Valium, you can get it within the day,” Chapman explained. “For medical marijuana, you might have to wait up to three months for a grower to produce a crop.”
Measure 74 would eliminate the time spent by patients waiting for their medicine. With a steady supply from farmers, dispensaries would be able to stock marijuana and provide it upon request. The non-profit dispensaries would also provide a steady source of revenue for the state; something economically challenged Oregon desperately needs.
And yet there are voices of concern regarding Measure 74. The Oregonian advised against the measure, claiming that while “many sick people in Oregon might be better off if marijuana was de-politicized as a medicine …” they fear “it’s just a legalization measure with more protections for criminals than for patients,” citing the measure’s vagueness.
“It’s vague on purpose,” Chapman said. “It’s vague so that the Oregon Health Department can implement it (Measure 74) as it sees fit. There are regulations in the measure. Prop 19 has no regulations.”
As to protecting criminals, The Oregonian’s criticism falls flat. They claim that the “fine print” of the measure would protect shady individuals, noting that “employees and directors (of the dispensaries) don’t have to be law-abiding Oregon citizens.”
Fine, although teachers in public schools don’t have to be citizens of the states in which they teach, nor do they have to have an immaculate police record. Most jobs do not require that. Furthermore, in order to sell the marijuana legally, dispensaries must be shown proper medical marijuana cards by prospective patients. It can be assumed that if they aren’t and they provide the marijuana illegally, they will be fully prosecuted under the law.
Opposition to Measure 74 boils down to the fear of marijuana as a “deviant social norm,” as Chapman put it. Every day, doctors prescribe hundreds of other types of drugs and painkillers for those in need with little oversight. There is a fear that if Measure 74 is passed, it will open the doors for full legalization of marijuana.
“People just want their medicine. Lawyers have been interpreting the law, even when houses are being raided by the police, they are not being charged with anything. Police just take the weed and leave. And medical marijuana patients are scared because they just want their medicine,” Chapman said.
Instead of viewing marijuana as bad because it’s … bad, m’kay, Oregonians will hopefully understand that it can have benefits for patients who desperately need it to cope with pain.
It’s time to get them their medicine.
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