Pubdate: Tue, 22 May 2012
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2012 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David G. Evans
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n281/a11.html

LEGALIZING THE USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the Editor:

I am a cancer survivor, and my heart goes out to Justice Gustin L. 
Reichbach and his family.

Although Justice Reichbach reports that marijuana had a benefit for 
him, anecdotal reports are not reliable scientific evidence because 
the claimed benefits are not independently verified and do not 
reflect double-blind controls. Anecdotal reports may also be 
inaccurate because of the emotional expectations of the person using 
marijuana and the placebo effect. In some cases, there may be 
deliberate exaggeration for ideological reasons.

Public health must be protected by standards based on unbiased 
science and objective clinical testing, not on politics, emotion and 
anecdotal accounts.

The Food and Drug Administration did a comprehensive study of smoked 
marijuana as medicine and found that there are "no sound scientific 
studies" supporting the medical use of marijuana. The F.D.A.'s 
modern, sophisticated drug approval process is our best defense 
against marketing unsafe and ineffective drugs.

It is true compassion to make sure that medicines are safe and 
effective and that the claims about them are true.

DAVID G. EVANS

Executive Director

Drug Free Schools CoalitionBelvidere, N.J., May 18, 2012
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom