Pubdate: Wed, 16 May 2012
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright: 2012 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Contact:  http://www.telegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/509
Author: William Breault

MEDICINAL CLAIMS ALL SMOKE

This November, Massachusetts voters will decide whether to formally
approve a medical marijuana initiative - "An act for the humanitarian
medical use of marijuana." This means that supporters of the question
must now collect 11,485 signatures by June 19 for the question to
appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.

You would be considering important legislation that would establish a
"medical" marijuana program in Massachusetts. There have been many
half-truths and misperceptions swirling around this controversial
issue. It is important to set the record straight.

We oppose the legalization of medical marijuana in our commonwealth
for several important and substantive reasons. Medical marijuana
advocates claim that nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety can be
alleviated by smoking marijuana. They claim that marijuana is useful
for treating cancer, epilepsy, anorexia and wasting syndromes commonly
associated with HIV/AIDS. They also claim it helps with multiple
sclerosis and spinal-cord injuries, muscle spasms, bladder
dysfunction, spasticity and a variety of other illnesses.

Who really uses medical marijuana?

Advocates of the legislation claim that medical marijuana helps
seriously ill people with cancer or AIDS or glaucoma. They paint a
picture of elderly ill people who need it for pain relief. However,
according to the San Diego County district attorney, medical marijuana
patient records from California show that 62 percent were between 17
and 35 years of age; and 71 percent were between ages 17 and 40. Only
2.05 percent of customers obtained physician recommendations for AIDS,
glaucoma or cancer. An extremely high number of people were using
medical marijuana for other purposes.

Many prominent national health organizations do not support crude
smoked marijuana for medical use. Medical crude marijuana is rejected
by the American Medical Association, the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of
Ophthalmology, the American Cancer Society, the National Eye
Institute, the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and
Stroke and the FDA.

All medications, particularly those containing controlled substances,
should become available only after having satisfied the rigorous
criteria of the Federal Food and Drug Administration approval process.
That process has been carefully constructed over the past century to
protect patient health and safety. Patients and physicians have the
right to insist that prescription medications have satisfied modern
medical standards for quality, safety and efficacy. Medicine by
referendum should never be accepted.

The Main South Alliance for Public Safety has for many years followed
the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency Project, which has
been analyzing samples of marijuana, hashish and hash oil seized in
the U.S. since 1976. These seized samples come from state police and
Drug Enforcement Administration around the country. This project is
funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The average amount of
tetrahydrocannabinol, marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, has reached
a new high of 12 percent. The report covers 46,221 confiscated and
analyzed marijuana seizures in the United States from 1993 to 2008.
The average report in 1983 was just under 4 percent, so today's
marijuana, on average, is more than twice as potent as it was two and
a half decades ago.

The University of Michigan, monitoring the future survey of U.S.
secondary school students, said the following: "Marijuana use among
teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year, a sharp contrast to
the considerable decline that had occurred in the preceding decade.
Daily marijuana use is now at a 30-year peak level among high school
seniors."

In 2011, a nationally representative sample of 47,000 students in
Grades 8 through 12, attending 400 public high schools and private
secondary schools, participated in the Monitoring the Future 2011 survey.

In a letter dated Jan. 22, 2012, to the Honorable Carmen M. Ortiz,
United States Attorney for Massachusetts, we asked, what are the
federal criminal, civil and other liabilities of "medical marijuana
dispensaries and physicians, government employees, landlords and
financiers who participate in any way in growing possession,
manufacture, distribution or sales of "medical marijuana under SB1161
and HB 625, the proposed "Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Act."

U.S. Attorneys in Washington, Northern California, Colorado, Hawaii,
Montana and Rhode Island have all issued letters warning that
regardless of state law, the U.S. Department of Justice could consider
civil and criminal actions against those who set up marijuana growing
and dispensing facilities, as they would be in violation of federal
law.

The Main South Alliance for Public Safety is working in partnership
with Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, which is open to individuals
and organizations committed to the health and well-being of youth in
Massachusetts. For more information on how to get involved with the
Alliance, email  or visit
www.mapreventionalliance.org.
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MAP posted-by: Matt