Arizona Cannabis Bill Could Destroy the Lives of Veterans

Medical Cannabis Patients Risk Losing their Medicine in Arizona

Posted February 27, 2020

Yesterday, we got word that 15 lawmakers in Arizona co-sponsored legislation that would change the state’s medical cannabis program by instituting a 2 percent cap on THC potency.

Clearly, these folks do not rely on this medicine for any of their own maladies. Because if they did, this would never have happened.

This is nothing more than another prohibitionist attempt to thwart the amazing progress we’ve made towards the legalization and acceptance of medical cannabis.

The bottom line is that if this bill, HCR 2045, were to pass, there would be more than 200,000 Arizona patients being denied access to their medication in the manner it was prescribed by their doctors.

Imagine for a moment, if there was a bill to limit the dosage of blood pressure medicines or cholesterol drugs. It would never fly. But because there’s still an unfair stigma attached to cannabis, lawmakers are putting this forth as if it’s no big deal. Yet it is absolutely a big deal. A very big deal!

Now I’m not saying this thing will pass, but the fact that 15 lawmakers had the audacity to suggest limiting the dosages of patients using medical cannabis, in defiance of actual medical doctors’ prescription recommendations, is not only absurd, it could be argued that it’s a violation of human rights.

Denying sick people their medicine is no different than watching someone hanging off the edge of a cliff, and instead of helping, just walking away.

Now one thing that really bothers me about this is that so many of our honorable and brave veterans use cannabis to help treat PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. This is life-saving medicine for them, and yet 15 lawmakers have decided that they get to dictate how much of this medicine they can use.

This is not acceptable. And while I have no ill will towards anyone – even politicians with whom I disagree – I would encourage Arizona voters to contact these folks, and respectfully request they reconsider their positions.

Perhaps they just don’t know enough about how powerful and important this medicine is to a lot of people. Or perhaps they haven’t done the necessary research on why cannabis was prohibited in the first place, and still based their decisions on multiple decades worth of propaganda and misinformation.

But the bottom line is that these 15 lawmakers are wrong on this issue, and if they get their way, a lot of sick people are going to get sicker. No one should be OK with this.

We are fortunate that in this country, we have the right, and arguably the responsibility, to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of our government without fear of punishment or reprisals.

Let’s exercise this right, in a polite and respectful way, by contacting the lawmakers supporting this bill, and get them to pull it.

They are as follows …

Russel Bowers

House of Representatives
1700 West Washington
Room Room 223
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Email rbowers@azleg.gov

Phone 602-926-3128

Leo Biasiucci

House of Representatives
1700 West Washington
Room Room 341
Phoenix, AZ 85007

Email lbiasiucci@azleg.gov

Phone 602-926-3018

Shawnna Bolick

House of Representatives
1700 West Washington
Room Room 113
Phoenix, AZ 85007