Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2012
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Monte Whaley

EX-MAYOR PUTS HEAT ON WEED

In a New Book, Ray Martinez Says Medical-Marijuana Laws Help Growers 
but Not Patients.

Former Fort Collins Mayor Ray Martinez has written a new book highly 
critical of marijuana and an answer to a television documentary that 
he claims glorified the use of pot in the northern Colorado city.

The book, "The Truth About Marijuana, America's Snake Oil," came out 
early this summer and seeks to debunk myths produced by pro-marijuana 
groups that claim the drug is safer than alcohol, Martinez said.

"I'm just trying to destroy the misleading facts that are being put 
out there," said Martinez, who led a successful campaign last fall 
that shut down the 20 medical-marijuana dispensaries operating in 
Fort Collins. "It's like the tobacco companies and their ads in the 
1950s that said cigarette smoking was OK for you. We know now that isn't true."

In the book, Martinez cites statistics from local law enforcement 
that said marijuana use shot up 300 percent while the dispensaries 
were operating. He also highlights Dr. David Harvey Powelson, former 
chief of the Department of Psychiatry in the Student Health Service 
at the University of California Berkeley, who became a staunch 
opponent of marijuana use.

Not surprisingly, Martinez's book is receiving mixed reviews from the 
medical-marijuana crowds on both sides.

"Ray should be commended for exposing the dangers and myths 
surrounding marijuana," said Cliff Riedel, assistant district 
attorney for Larimer County, on the Martinez website. "The forces 
pushing for states to legalize 'medical marijuana' are hiding their 
true agenda. Marijuana is a cash crop to these organized criminal forces."

But several reviewers of Martinez's book on Amazon took a different view.

One said: "Ray's futile attempt to swing opinion is nothing more than 
the usual biased hate mongering that has created fear and 
intolerance. . Ray uses reports and stats that have been proven to be 
false, misleading, or outright lies as the basis for this 'book.' "

Mason Tvert, who supports a ballot measure making a limited amount of 
marijuana legal, said he hasn't read Martinez's book but has a good 
idea of its conclusions.

"Ultimately, someone who suggests that this is snake oil and has no 
medical benefit ... is out of touch with science and the citizens of 
Colorado," Tvert said.

He co-wrote a book, "Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People 
to Drink?," that derides the notion that marijuana is a dangerous 
drug or at least more dangerous than alcohol.

"Everything we had in our book was based on peer reviewed research 
and government studies," Tvert said."We also highlighted lots of 
arguments by our opponents that have been widely debunked."

Martinez said he began putting his book together while he reviewed 
e-mails from viewers who did not like his anti-marijuana stance as 
portrayed in the documentary "American Weed," which ran on the 
National Geographic channel in February.

"To me it (the documentary) was very biased," said Martinez. "It 
glorified marijuana growers while it made me and others look like 
villains and that we didn't care about ill people. I think we care 
more for ill people than those who grow marijuana, who are just in it 
for the profits."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom