Letter to the Editor: Reader supportive of state's marijuana bill

Dear Editor,

The truth is that cannabis is a plant that won’t go away: it grows in nearly every climatic zone on the planet, without even needing to be tended. Its eradication is fundamentally impossible; prohibition has proved futile.

And it is also an undeniable truth that cannabis can make you feel good. The cannabinoids contained in the plant can cure or ameliorate pain and suffering in numerous ways. Cannabis has been used by humankind as medicine for millenia.

So I hail the introduction of LB643 for consideration by Nebraska’s Unicameral. The Cannabis Compassion and Care Act will likely engender a lively debate. I hope that our legislators seriously consider the will of the people as demonstrated in poll results. A majority of Nebraskans are in favor of legal access to medical cannabis. It is a moral imperative for government to provide for the public.

To make a criminal of a sick person because of their choice of medicine goes against basic human principals. Yet there are approximately 98,000 non-violent people jailed in federal prisons for simple possession of a plant that was included in more than half the patent medicines sold in America just 75 years ago.

In 2013, 41 percent of the inmates admitted to a Nebraska prison were convicted of low-level felonies and misdemeanors. Most of those convictions were for non-violent crimes. It’s hard to deny cannabis’ usefulness while state-of-the-art scientific evidence continues to increase. In the 23 states that have liberalized cannabis, there have been good results in reducing human suffering on many fronts. Dire predictions of unintended consequences have not materialized. I’m expecting honest, reasoned and compassionate deliberation of this important bill.

Carolyn Vigneri-Ho

Louisville, Neb.