Pubdate: Thu, 16 Jan 2003
Source: Oklahoma Daily, The (OK Edu)
Copyright: 2003 Oklahoma Daily
Contact:  http://www.oudaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1371
Note: This paper is published by the University of Oklahoma
Author:  Elizabeth Pruett

NOT EVEN MEDICINAL USE IS OK

Another Case Against Marijuana

2003. Another year older, another year wiser. But some in America have 
belied this adage by revealing that sometimes, the older one grows, the 
less one knows. And what, might you ask, is the proof of this? Our recent 
push toward the legalization of pot, or, as it has been termed, "Medical 
Marijuana".

Push has come to shove in this past year as more and more advocates for the 
legalization of this drug have come forward. Cancer patients and elderly 
people who have been helped, as well as parents of children dependent upon 
the use of marijuana, have been paraded before the media in an attempt to 
convince the people of America of its health benefits and, indeed, 
necessity in the medical field.

While I am not opposed to the use of necessary drugs, I urge that we think 
long and hard about making marijuana legal. According to National Families 
in Action, in the search for modern medical drugs, scientists aim at 
discovering or creating drugs that are safe, successful, specific and 
stable. This involves a search for drugs that are not toxic to the human 
body, target a specific disease or illness with limited side effects, and 
easily regulated through a consistent dosage. The difficulty of regulation 
and the side-effects of sluggishness, lethargy and short-term memory loss 
combine with the potential risks of lung cancer and heart disease to 
prevent marijuana from being an ideal medical drug.

While some advocate its medical uses simply for the sake of the few who 
would benefit, this claim could serve as a crowbar forcing the door open to 
full legalization. In 1993, at a San Francisco conference celebrating the 
50th anniversary of the discovery of LSD, Richard Cowen stated, "The key to 
it [full legalization] is medical access. Because once you have hundreds of 
people using marijuana medically . . . the whole scam is going to be blown. 
. . . Medical marijuana is our strongest suit. It is our point of leverage 
which will move us toward the legalization of marijuana for personal use."

This should make us wary of the strong campaigners for medical marijuana. 
Granted, some supporters are indeed concerned with the health of those few 
Americans that could actually be helped by the use of the drug; however, we 
should be concerned if these individuals are being used as pawns to achieve 
the hidden agendas of others.

Adam Gifford, Jr. wrote a medical article titled "The Unintended 
Consequences of Regulating Addictive Substances," claiming that it would be 
altogether better if addictive substances were made freely available. Many 
of the claims that have risen today are merely echoes from the past--the 
arguments that making substances illegal just makes them more desirable and 
the assertions that people will simply use the drug anyway are about as 
logical as Britteny Spear's statement that she has "been to a lot of 
overseas places, like Canada."

Right now, the air is rampant with New Year's Resolutions--to lose weight, 
to exercise more, to become more organized. Maybe America should have a 
resolution to use wisdom instead of politics in such issues as the 
legalization of pot and continue to search for medication that aids more 
than it harms.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D