Stop by the EnerChi Healing Center store in Fort Collins and you’ll find something you probably won’t find at any other shop in Colorado – marijuana. Before you reefer-heads or 420-friendlies or whatever the term is start MapQuesting the location, you should know obtaining any will require a doctor’s prescription. James and Pat Fleming, EnerChi’s owners, insist they’re out to serve those suffering from illnesses whose symptoms may be ameliorated by smoking or ingesting the plant.

What they’re doing is perfectly legal since voters approved Amendment 20 in 2000, which legalized the sale and use of medical marijuana. Denverism applauds the Flemings and wishes them luck in their endeavor.

Those who have never nursed a friend or relative through a round of chemotherapy often greet the idea of medical marijuana with skepticism. This is unfortunate. While helping a relative through some nasty-ass chemo a few years ago, I saw first hand how just a few puffs from a joint instantly eased pain and evaporated the chemo’s attendant nausea, making it possible for her to keep down her first meal in days. No other medication was able to accomplish this.

Of course, the biggest obstacle to more states enacting laws friendly to medical marijuana may be the medical marijuana advocates themselves. Show up at any rally and you’re likely to find stoned college students outnumbering cancer survivors by a margin of at least ten to one. What we need is more a more sober advocacy for medical marijuana, one based on facts and experience, not on Phish and Doritos.

In any case, it was a wise and compassionate thing Coloradans did by passing Amendment 20. Lets hope more individuals follow the lead of EnerChi’s owners and make medical marijuana available to everyone who needs it.