According to Bill McCarberg, M.D. with The National Pain Foundation, numerous studies have now established that cannabinoids (the various forms of marijuana) help lessen pain and affect a wide range of symptoms and bodily functions. Such research has also demonstrated that cannabinoids may work together with opioids (prescription pain medications) to enhance their effectiveness and reduce tolerance.
According to Jocelyn Elder, M.D., the former U.S. Surgeon General, "The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day."
Mr. Humble has made a unilateral (and obviously uninformed) decision to advise Arizona citizens to vote against what amounts to just another medication that could be used for various purposes.  My question Mr. Humble is this:  Why is it that the prescription of opiate, or narcotic pain medications such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Norco, and Hydrocodone are commonly prescribed by physicians to treat pain and you seem to have no problem with that fact?  Addiction to prescription painkillers has become increasingly prevalent in the United States.  How many times a day do emergency room physicians deal with patients who are there “drug seeking”?  How many prescriptions are written each day for these opiates and narcotic pain medications and given to patients who may have benefitted as much or more from over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen?  Will you likewise discourage doctors from writing prescriptions for pain killers because some may not need them?  Isn’t this a prime example of throwing out the baby with the bathwater?  
My 27 year-old daughter suffers (and it IS suffering at its highest level) from Crohn’s disease.  She has gone from being an energetic, employed, 145 pound woman to a fatigued, unemployed, 105 pound woman in two years time.  Her doctors keep adding more and more medications to her regimen and recently advised that she begin taking a drug among whose side-effects include death.  While researching various treatments and alternative medicines for Crohn’s, we found article after article extolling the virtues of medical marijuana.  Why is it that her doctors cannot prescribe this drug for my daughter?  Why is it that drugs that cause death are fine but drugs that may make her a little “high” are not?  The doctors have had no problem prescribing narcotic pain medications, sleeping medications, anxiety medications and steroids.  After 5 trips to the emergency room and 2 hospital stays in the last month, she is ready to give up.  She has wasted away to skin and bones.  She is having a great deal of trouble caring for her two young children.  She feels that she has no future.  Now tell me why this one man, who will be taken seriously by some simply because of his appointed position, has the right or the temerity to dictate what drug my daughter can or cannot be prescribed.   As the laws stand now, she will not try a drug that is illegal for fear of being jailed.  That is tragic!
Why the prejudices against this drug?  A little history may help.  Marijuana has been around for thousands and thousands of years.  It has been used as a natural analgesic since discovered.  In the 17th century, American growers were actually encouraged to plant hemp.  In fact, in 1619 the Virginia assembly passed a law requiring every farmer to grow hemp.  It was allowed as legal tender in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.  But in 1930, Henry J. Anslinger was named as the first director of the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics.  He quickly realized that it was an amazing career opportunity.  But focusing solely on cocaine and heroin would not be enough to help build his agency so he decided that marijuana would be the “evil weed” that would make the bureau indispensible.  And, in fact, he held the position until 1962.   Anslinger immediately drew upon the themes of racism and violence to draw national attention to the problem he wanted to create.  Here are some quotes that have been widely attributed to him:
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”
“…the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its user’s insanity, criminality, and death.”
“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”
“Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing”
“You smoke a joint and you’re likely to kill your brother.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
I’ve written in the past about the politics of fear.  Here is another prime example of not only fear-mongering, but out and out racism.   It’s interesting that in Los Angeles, which has a medical marijuana law on the books, the LA Times’ Gregory Rodriquez reported:
“Nationally, crime has been up in some places and down in others. But overall? Dramatically down. And here in Los Angeles, the drop is particularly stunning. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, compared with the same period in 2008, homicide is down by 32%; rape 12%; robbery 3%; burglary 6%, and grand theft auto a shocking 18%.”
Not exactly the Armageddon predicted by the drug war bureaucrats.
Harry Anslinger got help from William Randolf Hearst, who owned a chain of newspapers.  It is widely reported that he hated Mexicans. Second, he had invested heavily in the timber industry to support his newspaper chain.  Hemp paper would have been competition to his investments.   Third, he had lost 800,000 acres of timberland to Pancho Villa – presumably the reason for his hatred of Mexicans.   Fourth, telling lurid lies about the devil marijuana weed causing violence sold newspapers, making him rich.  Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes have certainly followed this lead.  
Hearst and Anslinger were supported by Dupont chemical company and various pharmaceutical companies in the effort to outlaw cannabis.  Dupont had patented nylon, and wanted hemp removed as competition.  The pharmaceutical companies could neither identify nor standardize cannabis dosages, and besides, with cannabis, folks could grow their own medicine and not have to purchase it from large companies.
Once again media, pharmaceutical companies, multinational corporations and power-hungry politicians have made decisions for their own benefit without regard to the health and welfare of the general public.
All I am asking is an option for my daughter’s treatment regimen.  Is that too much to ask Mr. Humble?  She and thousands of other Arizonans need alternatives to the medications available now.  Whether or not she will pursue this option, I do not know.  But, should she decide to do so, wouldn’t it be proper, even humane, to give her the alternative?