Legalization of Marijuana for Medicinal Use in the State of Michigan

This is a petition for the citizens of the state of Michigan who advocate the legalization of medicinally used marijuana and would like to transform
their advocacy into reality. The jury is in and has been for quite some time now: marijuana
has an abundance of well-established therapeutic effects. Its medicinal use has been
recorded by civilizations the world over for thousands of years. Furthermore, marijuana is
a plant, and whereby do governments think they have been given the authority to interfere
with the relationship between humans and that which is yielded by Mother Earth as they
do in the case of marijuana? They have no more right to outlaw marijuana than they do a
tulip. True, marijuana is psychoactive and tulips are not, but human beings have an
inalienable right to alter their state of consciousness, not to mention control their own
destinies. More basic than that, they have a right to take into their bodies whatever
substances they see fit, regardless of the wisdom of the decisions that are made subsequent
to that right. In other words, my body is mine, not the governments. Why is it that I am
not prohibited to take into my body substances that are toxic, namely alcohol and cigarette
smoke, but I am prohibited to ingest a substance that is highly therapeutic both mentally
and physically, namely the active ingredient in marijuana, THC? It is a substance whose
healing powers I have, along with many thousands of others, experienced first-hand. I
have suffered since the age of 13 from a mental illness, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD),
that is categorized as a close relative of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). BDD, one
example of which is anorexia nervosa, is simply a body-focused version of OCD. I have
been on several medications and have found none to be nearly as effective in reducing my
symptoms as marijuana. In fact, under marijuanas influence, my symptoms approach
zero. I am NOT a criminal, I simply want to feel happy and free. Countless others
suffering from physical pain or mental anguish want the same thing for themselves but are
being robbed of a most safe, natural and effective way of doing so. If legalization of
marijuana for medicinal use is something you support, and you are a resident of the state
of Michigan, please sign this petition--and pass word of it along to acquaintances, friends
and family members--that we might apply pressure to our politicians to enact legislation to
that effect.