Medicinal Marijuana in Tennessee

The poll on the sidebar of this piece about legalization of marijuana for medicinal use in Tennessee suggests that Nashville's online readers are in favor of medicinal use of marijuana. The proposal is intriging, going both further than other states and using smart and novel criteria. But maybe it isn't the most practical proposal, since Tennessee - thoroughly red - is enjoying its first republican-led legislature in more than a century. ''The important ethical issue here is that it may be that our preconceptions are blinding us to the possible medical help the substance could provide,'' said [Stuart] Finder, director of Vanderbilt's Center for Clinical and Research Ethics. ''There are some indications it could be helpful, but the only way to find out is to study it. Do we risk giving up our preconceptions to look at it?" Marijuana of regulated quality, Vanderbilt, compassion and good folk music. Maybe we should move there?