Bill Calls for Study of "Legal" Marijuana

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Bill Calls for Study of "Legal" Marijuana

Special Report - May 27, 2008
State Representative Earl Jones (D-Guilford), who sponsored a bill last year to authorize state taxpayer funding of destructive embryonic stem cell research, is now calling for a study of the legalization of marijuana in North Carolina. HB 2405—LRC Study/Alternative Medicines would direct the Legislative Research Commission to “study whether a public benefit would be derived from making it lawful for physicians to prescribe and patients to possess and use marijuana or its chemical equivalent for medicinal purposes only.”

“The only legitimate purpose of a study of marijuana is to promote its legalization,” said John Rustin, vice president and director of government relations for the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “At a time when North Carolina is fighting the proliferation of gangs, school dropouts, and illegal drug use, it is unconscionable that the General Assembly would spend its time and the taxpayers’ dollars to study the ‘benefits’ of smoking pot. We can only hope that this bill is quickly snuffed out just like its predecessors in prior legislative sessions.”