March 6, 2010 – Raleigh, N.C. — State lawmakers could vote on a bill legalizing marijuana for medical purposes this spring.
Rep. Nick Mackey, D-Mecklenburg, sponsored the bill and held a Thursday night rally at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to support medical marijuana.
House Bill 1380 passed an initial vote last year and is now in a health committee.
Joe Cullen said he suffers from a debilitating, muscular disease that has left him in a wheelchair and in constant pain. He’s on painkillers, but he said smoking marijuana is the only thing that truly works to relieve his pain.
“It has done a lot of wonders. It relaxes my muscles so I don’t get cramps in my muscles and charley horses,” Cullen said. “It reduces my pain pretty much instantly.”
Cullen lobbied last summer for a law to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes and said he plans to continue smoking the drug, even without such a law.
“If the taxpayers would like to see me in jail, so be it,” he said.
Supporters say legalizing marijuana for health-related reasons would generate more than $60 million in state taxes in the first year alone.
Still, some people say the proposal could have serious side-effects.
“I don’t think it is in the best health interest of the larger community,” said Anne Doolen, executive director of the Alcohol/Drug Council of North Carolina. “Not everyone who uses it will develop an addiction, (but) there will be a percentage of the population who will. The availability makes it riskier for those (people).” By Sloane Heffernan. Source.
