Reid newest supporter of medical marijuana

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is the latest supporter of medical marijuana.

“I think that there’s some medical reasons for marijuana,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun in an interview.

{mosads}He acknowledged that his position has changed over time.

“If you’d asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer – I would have said no, because [marijuana] leads to other stuff,” Reid said. He went on to cite a particular situation that helped changed his views on medical marijuana use. An unnamed elected official’s son, he said, who was suffering from severe kidney failure and had trouble eating used marijuana to relieve his ailments.

“Somebody told him and his mom, you know, you should smoke some marijuana, because one of the side effects is … you get the munchies, you get extremely hungry,” said Reid. “He tried it an sure enough, he was able to eat for the first time.”

Reid was unwilling to go further and support fully legalizing marijuana, which Colorado and Washington did this year.

“I don’t know about that,” said Reid. “I just think that we need to look at the medical aspects of it.”

Nevada legalized marijuana for medical use in 2000 by voter referendum, but recently several cities including Las Vegas have been placing moratoriums on the creation of new marijuana dispensaries because of the legal limbo created by the continued federal marijuana ban. In addition to Colorado and Washington’s full legalization, 18 states allow marijuana to be used for medical purposes.