Marijuana Blog

In 1998 voters in Oregon legalized medical marijuana, and one of the provisions of the law is that you don’t have to live in Oregon to get a medical marijuana card in that state, as long as you have the recommendation of an Oregon doctor.

As you can imagine, this draws patients from the only state that borders Oregon and doesn’t have medicinal cannabis – Idaho. But when those who get medical marijuana from Oregon come back into Idaho, they become a criminal as Idaho doesn’t recognize medical marijuana cards from other states.

To many of us, this doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal to Idaho law enforcement, just some people with baggies of plant matter.

Idaho State Trooper David Kosmecki is known in the state for making more DUI arrests than any other trooper. And he would rather be pulling over drunk drivers than people who got cannabis in Oregon because, as he says, drunks kill people.

“I’d take a drunk over a pound of dope any day of the week,” Klitch said.

According to records, only 196 people in Idaho have medical marijuana cards from Oregon, and most of those people got their card from the 45th Parallel marijuana cooperative in Ontario, Oregon, about 5 miles from the Idaho border. Bill Esbensen is one of the founders of the cooperative.

“We have oncologists all over the state of Idaho and other states sending patients to our clinic,” Esbensen said. “They’re afraid to speak out in their state, but they’re willing to send them over here.”

Doctors “afraid” to speak out on matters of medicine? Matters they are legally considered experts in? Is that what passes for health care in the majority of the U.S.?

And all because of the lies and propaganda spread about an amazing plant.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com