Arlington County Civic Federation Is Backing Medical Marijuana Bill

The Arlington County Civic Federation consists of 80 local organizations and has decided to support a pro-medical marijuana bill. It passed this sector of the process by a vote of 50 to 1. Recent polls show that 86-percent of Virginians support medical marijuana.

The group acknowledges that marijuana can help patients with pain, nausea and lack of appetite, according to WJLA News 7. One lawmaker, Delegate Dave Albo argues that marijuana is still a Schedule I drug. Albo wants federal law to change and for medical data to be presented to him before he’d consider supporting the bill.

The medical marijuana resolution in Virginia says, “lethal drugs like alcohol and tobacco are [already] legal.”

Richard Kennedy of Virginia NORML said, “Both of them are far more dangerous than marijuana, so the current policy just doesn’t make sense. NORML thinks full legalization is the ultimate answer, but medical marijuana in its own right is a very legitimate issue.”

Albo concluded his comments by saying, “Every one of the [medical marijuana] states is in violation of federal right now. If someone has a legitimate medical issue, I am sympathetic to them and I would like to try to help them out. But a lot of writing legislation is, you try to solve one problem and you create a hundred more.”

Further discussions regarding medical marijuana have not been scheduled in Virginia yet.