Pubdate: Tue, 21 Dec 2004
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2004 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: John English
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n1716.a08.html

INITIATIVES MASK DANGERS OF POT

In the early 1900s, snake-oil salesmen sold remedies that contained
narcotic drugs, potions that masked pain for many patients. Because
diseases went untreated, use often led to preventable deaths.

Although many individuals became addicted to these medicines, the
intent, unlike marijuana users, was not recreational use. Note that a
San Francisco study of AIDS patients who use a cannabis club in
Oakland found that, on average, patients had smoked marijuana for 15
years prior to onset of their diseases.

Marijuana, like thousands of other plants, contains compounds, some
therapeutic, some harmful. To date, after more than 20,000 scientific
studies, some of marijuana's compounds have been isolated, synthesized
and approved for medical use. Sativix, the newest compound derived
directly from cannabis, is now being tested.

Molecular structure and toxicity are not determined by popular vote,
the media or dramatic appeals from the sick and dying. Marijuana is
now 10 to 20 times stronger than in the 1970s, and is a leading cause
of medical and psychiatric emergency room episodes.

Pot's negative impacts on the immune system are well-documented.
Children born to mothers who smoked pot during pregnancy have more
behavioral problems, lower IQs and experience 11 times more frequent
onset of one type of leukemia.

Medicalization of marijuana by ballot not only circumvents
long-established safeguards, it also diminishes the public's
perception of how dangerous this drug really is.

John English
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin