As someone who has seen the benefits of medical cannabis personally, it is unconscionable for the lawmakers in the state to withhold vital treatment to patients.

After open heart surgery with lots of complications, one of which left me blind, I was seen by several eye specialists and was told there were no manufactured drugs to expand the blood vessels in the eyes. Sometimes you just have to trust in God, and as it turns out cannabis created by God does exactly this, among other benefits.

For this country and state to enforce a law that is not only unconstitutional, it is also unsupported by every study ever done even by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Francis L. Young, a former administrative law judge at the DEA, ruled on Sept. 6, 1988: “The evidence in this record [9-6-88 ruling] clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record.”

Notice the word substance and not drug. I am still partially blind and suffer from chronic arthritis pains. To be of real service to the people, I would like to see this whole ruling published and more of a positive spin to get this “law” struck down. Whether you agree or not if you would do some research you would find that the American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, American Association of Retired Persons, and numerous others are supporting a change.

Victor Polz

Malta, Ill.