Pubdate: Wed, 31 May 2006
Source: Niagara Gazette (NY)
Contact:  2006 Niagara Gazette
Website: http://www.niagara-gazette.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4174
Author: Ronald Fraser
Note: Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., writes on public policy issues for the 
DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

VANISHING MEDICAL MARIJUANA GAP

When there is a big gap between the views of ordinary Americans on a 
public issue and the voting record of their elected representatives 
in Congress on that issue, something is wrong. In the national debate 
over the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the people and their 
representatives in Congress seem to be living on different planets. 
In New York, however, the gap has been closed, or nearly so.

Poll after poll show Americans, by a huge majority, want their 
doctors, not lawmakers, to decide whether or not marijuana should be 
used as a medicine. Today, however, federal laws prohibit physicians 
from prescribing marijuana for pain relief even where state and local 
laws say it is OK to do so. This has not always been the case.

"For most of American history, growing and using marijuana was legal 
under both federal law and the laws of individual states," according 
to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of 
the U.S. Congress. The report goes to say: "From 1850 to the early 
1940s, cannabis was included in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a 
recognized medicinal. (But) its decline in medicine was hastened by 
the development of aspirin, morphine, and other opium-derived drugs, 
all of which helped to replace marijuana in the treatment of pain."

. The Polls. In 1999 a Gallup poll asked: "Suppose that on election 
day this year, you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. 
Please tell me, would you vote for or against making marijuana 
legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain 
and suffering?" Response: 73 percent of the American people said they 
would vote for making marijuana legally available under those conditions.

In both 2003 and 2005, Gallup polls asked: "Would you favor or oppose 
making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order 
to reduce pain and suffering?" In 2003, 75 percent and in 2005, 78 
percent of the people said they would favor giving doctors the legal 
right to decide when marijuana should be prescribed to ease suffering.

. The National gap. Apparently, members of Congress don't read the 
polls these days, nor do they care much about state laws. In 12 
states -- Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, 
Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- laws 
already give doctors the power to decide whether or not to use 
marijuana to treat patients in pain.

In the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4, 2005, Rep. Barney 
Frank (D-MA), introduced H.R. 2087, a bill "to provide for the 
medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various 
states," and to prohibit the federal government from stopping "an 
individual from obtaining and using marijuana from a prescription or 
recommendation by a physician for medical use." On May 13, the bill 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it is stuck.

Since a federal bill allowing states to regulate the medical use of 
marijuana can't make it to the House floor for an up or down vote, an 
alternative strategy is to attach a medical marijuana amendment to a 
spending bill that will reach the House floor. On June 15, 2005, Rep. 
Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY) did just that and offered Amendment 272 to 
H.R. 2862.  The amendment would have prohibited federal agencies from 
preventing the implementation of state laws that authorize the use of 
medical marijuana. The amendment was rejected on a 264 to 161 vote.

In other words, while 78 percent of the American people favor letting 
doctors (and states) decide this issue, only 38 percent of the House 
members favored a law supporting that policy. Nationally, that's a 
whopping 40 percent medical marijuana gap separating what the 
American people want and what their hard-of-hearing elected 
representatives deliver.

. New York's vanishing gap. With 20 of 29, or 68 percent of the House 
members from New York voting in favor of Amendment 272, the state's 
lawmakers have shown a readiness to close the gap separating public 
opinion and public policy.

Niagara Falls area representatives Louise McIntosh Slaughter, a 
Democrat, voted for the amendment while Thomas M. Reynolds, a 
Republican, voted against it.

Nationally the wide gap remains, with all congressmen from South 
Carolina, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska and 
Oklahoma voting against the amendment.

American democracy calls on lawmakers to be responsive to the common 
sense wisdom of ordinary citizens. Instead, some members of Congress 
from New York and elsewhere are standing in the way of existing state 
laws and the majority of Americans who want their physicians, not 
politicians, to decide if marijuana should be used to ease suffering 
in sick patients.

If these officials don't improve their hearing, voters might consider 
replacing them this coming November with people who have better 
listening skills.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake