Eh… The good prosecutors in the great state of Missouri are at it again.

For Ken Unger, he already has to...

If you don’t remember, in spring of  2010, Columbia Missouri police shot and killed two family dogs during a raid on a supposed kingpin. The Alleged Kingpin had… wait for it… a very small amount of pot and some smoking implements. For that, Columbia PD broke into his home at night, shot his beloved pets in a house where his 7-year old was sleeping, and proceeded to charge him with Child Endangerment.

It’s what I’ve come to expect from the ‘Show Me’ State.

So, it’s Spring now, and the Missouri prohibitionists have nothing better to do than to screw up another marijuana bust. No dead dogs this year, just one brave Navy vet and his garden. From ‘The Pitch Weekly’:

Ken Unger says he didn’t want to be a “morphine addict.” He came up with an alternative: Grow marijuana in his home to use medicinally. Unfortunately, Missouri isn’t a progressive place willing to let people like, say, a Navy veteran such as Unger, use pot to manage his pain.

Get the whole Navy Vet thing? Yeah, Mr. Unger has done a tour of duty to protect our freedoms and this is how his country repays him? Prosecution for making a personal choice? Ken Unger not only should grow marijuana for his pain, he should by all means be able to do so legally. If he finds in medically viable, then who are you or me or Prosecutor Jack Banas to judge?

Oh, yeah. Missouri doesn’t have an affirmative MMJ defense, which means that unless challenged, Unger and his lawyers from Green Aid won’t be able to bring up the medical use.

However, I totally expect Unger to force the subject. He makes it very clear in his comments that he was solely growing for his own personal medical use. He was not distributing. theoretically, the burden of proof will be on prosecutors to show that Unger was a drug king pin, which will be hard since he wasn’t.

Unger admits to growing cannabis. “Yes, I was growing marijuana, and I was growing it for my own personal consumption,” Unger told the NBC Action News. “I feel like I’m totally trapped. I’m not allowed to do anything for pain relief other than be a morphine addict, and I don’t want to be a morphine addict.”

Let’s compare morphine and cannabis side by side. Both have recognized medical value. Morphine overdoses can and will kill you. It is quite common to contract blood borne illnesses like hepatitis C, once you graduate from morphine to heroin. Withdrawal of opiates comes with a world of pain and suffering all to itself.

Cannabis, on the other hand, has a ver low rate of addiction. It is also impossible to overdose fatally on marijuana. As far as withdrawal from pot? You might just experience a day or two of crankiness, but no leg jerks, no potential heart attacks, and no potential for suicide.

I agree with Mr. Unger. I’d rather grow a natural medicine for chronic pain than be forced to watch my body wither and die from opiate addiction. The only problem with that view? Big Pharma ain’t selling me a baggie at at a 5000% mark up. Which, in turn, hits their profit margin.

So, to recap. Ken Unger has to fight for his freedom so that Big Pharma can continue to corner the market on medicine.

If you want to help a Navy Vet who served his country and now just wants to be left alone, please contact GreenAid. If you want to go protest at a hearing or trial (if it goes to that) then you should probably check out KCNORML. Time to get active, people.

Ken Unger has done his time serving this country.

It’s time we repay him.

-Legalize It!-
-PT-