The Supreme Court decision does not invalidate the Colorado law relating to medical cannibis. By passing Amendment 20, Colorado voters directed the legislature to rewrite statutes to decriminalize the growing and possession of small amounts of cannibis by particular individuals. As a result, patients who have been placed on the medical marijuana patient registry are afforded an "affirmative defense" to prosecution under state marijuana laws. The Colorado statute does not address distribution provisions. If a patient were to arrive at either a FBI office or a local police station and give marijuana to an officer, the officer would be obliged to arrest, and the patient would be prosecuted. Distribution of marijuana remains illegal under both state and federal law. Matthew Hine, Denver Editor's note: Colorado's medical marijuana law goes into effect today. [end]
Let's just call him "misguided" and deal with the issues. McCaffrey cannot accept that heroin addicts in England lead peaceful, productive lives when enrolled in medically monitored programs. He would be fired if he suggested that medical doctors administer heroin to addicts in this country. As long as the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, he can not publicly acknowledge that persons responsibly use marijuana recreationally. One of his medical consultants probably told him about the rat allowed to self-administer pleasure. [continues 86 words]
Paul Rako's article ("McCaffrey's Brain on Drugs," June) was not kind. If McCaffrey understood the havoc his positions cause, he could not continue as the drug czar in good conscience. I'm sure that, in his own way, Hitler was also a nice man who wanted to do good. But suggesting that Mr. McCaffrey is an evil self-serving jerk and psychopathic pig does nothing to move the discussion forward. Let's just call him "misguided" and deal with the issues. [continues 167 words]
Experience: He is a practicing physician specializing in preventative medicine and is a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians. I wonder if politicians are afraid of losing their jobs by appearing soft on drugs (which would be risky), or if they're afflicted with a thought disorder when it comes to drug policy. While researchers at the World Health Organization reported that cannabis (marijuana) is in many ways safer than tobacco or alcohol (New Scientist Magazine, February 2, 1998), Vice President Al Gore addressed a young audience in Boston about the dangers of tobacco. "Why don't you close all the tobacco factories and farms?" one bright student asked. The vice president replied that such an approach would be impossible, akin to the government's failed prohibition on alcohol. "There are so many (tobacco) addicted adults, that if you try to outlaw the industry you'd have a horrible law enforcement problem," he said. (Massachusetts Standard-Times, March 15, 1998.) [continues 707 words]
