Medical Marijuana for Vets

Veterans for Medical Marijuana

We the People of America with inherent rights protected by the Constitution of the united States of America, and for all people residing elsewhere on planet earth, hereby proclaim our just rights to any medicine recommended by one's own doctor or through experimentation, word of mouth or any other means of discovery of medicines, herbs or other alternative therapies, whereby one may find relief from pain, discomfort or suffering, and for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. No law shall be enacted to deny or disparage We the People from these ends. All current and pending laws that removes the right of The People to medicate themselves as they see fit, must be repealed.

In August of 2007 the first-ever organization to advocate for veteran's rights to medical marijuana access was launched: Veterans' for Medical Marijuana. Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access (VMMA) is based in Kalamazoo, Michigan and is funded by the Marijuana Policy Project (MMP). Executive Director Martin Chilcutt says, "The VMMA is serious about minimizing whatever potential harm comes from using marijuana... (Veterans) tell me there's a real concern about being arrested and also about the threats of withholding treatment by the VA if you test positive for marijuana. That is why we take this issue so seriously.

VMMA is reaching out to veterans organizations and medical organizations, both locally and nationally, to increase support for medical marijuana access. Chilcutt - a veteran of the US Naval Air Force Air Intelligence Division who has a service-connected disability - says that another primary focus of the organization is helping to preserve the doctor-patient relationship. "Privacy rights are a big issue when it comes to medical marijuana", says Chilcutt, a licensed psychotherepist. "Vets need to know it's safe to openly discuss this topic within the VA health care system."

VMMA saw early success this summer when it garnered the endorsement of Veterans for Peace, a St. Louis based veteran's organization devoted to promoting alternatives to war.

If a medicine, herb, mineral or vitamin, or any other substance may be found to alleviate problems associated with illness or suffering it is the right of The People to be able to utilize such. If, by using any substance whether "legal" or not, one becomes ill, has other side effects, or even that death may ensue, through no direct harm from another person, that shall be recognized as an inherent risk of life. When there is no coersion from any authority to take, or be injected with, any substance and there is also mutual consent between one's doctor and one's self one must, then, take responsibility for one's own action. One must learn about any medicine to be taken, whether prescribed by a doctor, pharmacist, or even offered by a local drug dealer. This is simple common sense for every endeavor of life.

If one allows the authority of a doctor to prescribe for one's illness, then one takes that responsibility as well and all risks inherent in this contract. To give away one's responsibility to others outside of a contract (whether verbal or written) between consenting adults is to allow the rise of despotic controllers over one's body, property and self determination. An adult has no need for a nanny to dictate one's life. That is what growing up is all about. To remove oneself from the ties that bind one to the dictates of others, so long as no physical harm befalls another in the actions between consenting and/or contracting adults.

No security exists that can wipe out all risk. To even consider that one can avoid all risks is to deny life itself. One then becomes a slave to an authority who has taken it upon themselves to determine your fate, and even dictates to doctors what patients can or cannot take to alleviate pain or suffering... or to experience pleasure and happiness. If one can injest alcohol or the mirad of "legal" drugs that pharmaceutical companies create in massive quantities (which happens to kill more people than all illegal drugs combined) what is the problem with blowing a little smoke of marijuana. Could it be that those who control the substance now do not wish to let go of that control, at least not until they have placed themselves in a position to control it when it becomes legal, like cigarettes?

Our Constitution describes our rights by not including them. The enumeration of our rights would take volumes to describe and even then it would be impossible to include every one. For the right to be free is inherent to man's nature and it goes against the laws of nature and against one's God to give away one's inherent rights. So long as one does not physically harm another or their property there are no legitimate laws that can be enacted to take away the rights of any man or woman. No man, woman, or authority may disallow the rights of the one or the many. For we are, or used to be, a Constitutional Republic, with few democratic contingencies. We are not a "Democracy", as many in politics would have us believe.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Why is it that man gives over his power and right to self determination to authoritarians? Does man's ability to take "the path of least resistence" make him susceptible to slavery? Is the mind of man so easily conned that the cunning and/or clever words of someone, with or without letters trailing their name, can make him feel more secure and so one follows such persons? Why cannot man see the tide of despotism in the eyes of his ruler?

written by Rah, for Dream Lake Foundation.