Pubdate: Tue, 14 May 2002
Source: Marietta Daily Journal (GA)
Copyright: 2002 The Marietta Daily Journal.
Contact:  http://www.mdjonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1904
Author: David Burch
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

BARR, BOORTZ SQUARE OFF

POWDER SPRINGS -- Congressman Bob Barr (R-Canton) worries the United States
is going to pot -- literally.

An outspoken crusader for America's "War on Drugs," Barr has repeatedly made
clear his feelings about legalizing drugs like marijuana, even for medicinal
purposes like pain relief.

On the other hand, radio talk show host Neal Boortz -- an equally outspoken
advocate for personal freedoms and libertarian values -- said Monday he sees
nothing wrong with the responsible use of marijuana for medical reasons or
even for personal recreation behind closed doors.

The congressman and the radio personality went head-to-head Monday night in
a debate over the issue of marijuana — should it be legalized or
should it remain off limits in order to protect the health and safety of our
society?

"Just say no to drugs. Just say no to Neal Boortz," Barr said to the more
than 300 people who packed into the McEachern High School auditorium in
Powder Springs.

The audience ranged in age from teenage high school students to those in
their 70s. While the debate was held in conservative west Cobb, the most
outspoken members of the audience were those in favor of drug legalization,
many of whom shouted boos and catcalls when Barr spoke.

Monday's debate comes on the heals of Barr's recent efforts to prevent a
voter referendum in the District of Columbia to legalize medicinal
marijuana. Although his effort to stop the referendum, known as the "Barr
Amendment," was overturned by a U.S. District Court on March 28, the
congressman is now in the process of appealing the court ruling with the
support of the Bush Administration and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"There is no legitimate medical use what so ever for marijuana," Barr said,
describing the drug culture as contrary to American values like "self
reliance, hard work and control over one's senses."

"This is not medicine," he said. "This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place
in medicine, no place in pain relief and it has no place around our
children."

Boortz said he agrees that drugs like marijuana offer no cures for diseases
like cancer. What they do offer, he said, is relief from side effects like
nausea and debilitating pain, side effects that now can only be treated with
powerful medication that leave patients in a drugged up stupor.

"If my father has only a few weeks to live, I would rather have him
continuous and able to share old memories than have him in a drug-induced
coma because that is the only way to relieve the pain," Boortz said.

Boortz, the nationally syndicated talk-show host who has broadcast from
Atlanta for more than 30 years, is a self-proclaimed Libertarian -- a
philosophy that has led him to advocate limited government involvement in
social issues and individual rights.

"How do I define freedom? That I have the right to life, liberty and
happiness without harming others," Boortz said.

But by legalizing marijuana, which Barr described as a "gateway drug," the
congressman argued that the door will be opened to higher levels of drug
abuse in the U.S. and the anarchy that comes from the "scourge of mind
altering drugs."

But Boortz argued that mind alteration comes in many legal forms such as
alcohol, morphine and codine -- or even through less tangible products like
political speech.

"Education alters your mind. Why not make that illegal?" Boortz asked.

But to Barr, arguing that substances like alcohol and tobacco are similar to
drugs like marijuana is like "comparing apples to oranges."

"The difference is that people can take alcohol in modest amounts without it
hindering their abilities," he said.

The issue of drug legalization, Boortz said, has little to do with
protecting society from hindered abilities, or even about relieving the pain
of the sick. The debate is over personal freedom, and what citizens are
allowed to in their own homes and with their own bodies.

"I own my mind, the government does not. I control how I use it," Boortz
said. "If I want to use it to do nothing but put Armor All on the wheels of
my house trailer all day, that's my decision."

"I think we have too many members of congress fighting too long to deny
people their First Amendment right to political speech," he said. "The
message is clear, butt out."
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