Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2005 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Karen P. Tandy
Note: Tandy is administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 
Washington, D.C.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Raich (Angel Raich)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: SHOULD IT BE LEGAL?

NO: MYTHS ABOUT POT ARE KILLING PEOPLE

Our society has come to believe that marijuana use is good medicine, a
cure-all for a variety of  ills: A recent poll showed that nearly
three-fourths of Americans over age 45 support legalizing marijuana
for medical use.

It's a belief that has filtered down to many of our teens, if what I'm
hearing during my visits with middle school and high school students
across the country is true. I'm amazed at how well versed in drug
legalization these teens are. It is as if legalization advocates stood
outside their schools handing out their leaflets of lies. Here is what
students have told me about marijuana: "It's natural because it grows
in the ground, so it must be good for you." "It must be medicine,
because it makes me feel better." "Since everybody says it's medicine,
it is."

Legalization advocates themselves have alluded to the fact that
so-called medical marijuana is a way of achieving wholesale drug
legalization. The natural extension of this myth is that, if marijuana
is medicine, it must also be safe for recreational use.

What is the antidote? Spreading the truth.

Smoked marijuana is not medicine. The scientific and medical
communities have determined that smoked marijuana is a health danger,
not a cure. There is no medical evidence that smoking marijuana helps
patients. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has approved no
medications that are smoked, primarily because smoking is a poor way
to deliver medicine.

Morphine, for example, has proven to be a medically valuable drug, but
the FDA does not endorse smoking opium or heroin.

The American Medical Association has rejected pleas to endorse
marijuana as medicine and instead urged that marijuana remain
prohibited at least until the results of controlled studies are in. To
quote U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's remarks during
arguments in the case decided Monday, "Medicine by regulation is
better than medicine by referendum."

Liberalization of drug laws in other countries has often resulted in
higher use of dangerous drugs. Consider the experience of the
Netherlands. After marijuana use became legal, consumption nearly
tripled among 18- to 20-year-olds. Marijuana use by Canadian teenagers
is at a 25-year peak in the wake of an aggressive decriminalization
movement.

Marijuana is dangerous to the user. Marijuana use can lead to
dependence and abuse. Marijuana was the second most common illicit
drug responsible for drug treatment admissions in 2002 - outdistancing
crack cocaine, the next most prevalent cause. Smoking marijuana can
cause significant health problems. Studies show that smoking three to
four joints per day causes at least as much harm to the respiratory
system as smoking a full pack of cigarettes every day.

Debunking the myths and arming our young people and their parents with
the facts do work. Clear the smokescreen by educating the children,
parents, teachers, physicians, and legislators in your community
before the myths kill any more people.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake