A bipartisan group of state representatives is working to introduce a bill allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. If passed, the bill would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana for patients, who then could obtain the drug legally. The bill also stipulates the conditions patients must meet before a prescription may be given.

The lead author of the bill, Rep. Gregg Underheim, R-Oshkosh, started writing the legislation after he was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer. Underheim said by passing the bill, people with painful conditions such as cancer or multiple sclerosis will be able to benefit from the relief marijuana can provide.

Currently, federal law does not permit medical marijuana. However, several states, including California, have passed legislation legalizing the drug for medical purposes.

States such as Wisconsin and California are taking a step in the right direction by approving marijuana’s use for medicinal purposes. Thousands of people’s pain could be alleviated if they had access to this drug.

While it’s understood that federal law supercedes that of state governments, states show an important opinion when they support legalizing marijuana for medical uses. Preemptive measures such as these state bills are necessary to show the federal government that it needs to change.

While marijuana is an illegal drug now, we should stop pigeonholing it in this category. As a country, we constantly make arbitrary distinctions between which drugs are OK because they’re prescribed and which ones aren’t because they’re illegal. The fact is many prescription drugs have more hazardous effects, if taken without the supervision of a physician, than marijuana.

Additionally, a prescription policy would track those who can legally use marijuana, because people can’t fake a terminal illness.

To allow a cancer patient to use marijuana in the privacy of his or her own home won’t hurt anyone. It will simply make a dying man or woman’s last days a bit more bearable.