IF you think legalizing medical marijuana would be a Reefer Madness-style catastrophe for society, don’t tell Oregon grandmother Stormy Ray. For Ray, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1985, Oregon’s legalization meant something entirely different: Instead of being forced to use a harsh, legal medication—one that left her in a constant haze—she can now gain pain relief much more easily. Medical marijuana, she says, “has literally saved my life.”
Ray is just one beneficiary of a growing state-by-state movement to give patients with illnesses such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, and AIDS legal access to the drug. The legalization drive began in 1996, when voters in Arizona and California approved the first medical-marijuana initiatives. In 1998, voters in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska jumped on the bandwagon by passing their own initiatives. All of these laws protect patients from state prosecution for marijuana possession, as long as they obtain a doctor’s recommendation.
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