Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 Source: Boulder Weekly (CO) Copyright: 2001 Bolder Weekly Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57 Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/ Author: Danny Terwey, Jane Marcus, Christopher Largen, Myron Von Hollingsworth Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ocbc.htm (Oakland Cannabis Court Case) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n916/a09.html POT, THE WONDER DRUG Bravo for the outstanding editorial that lambasted the Supreme Court for their asinine interpretation of law in the recent medical marijuana case (In Case You Missed It, "Conservatives for federalism," May 17-23). Now let me offer a few qualifiers. Timothy McVeigh used hideous and dishonorable tactics. I hope I will never even consider using such means to express my disgust with our federal government. However, if we wish to see more people like Timothy McVeigh step forward with such tactics, all we need do is let the federal government get away with such tyranny. Danny Terwey, Santa Cruz, Calif. - ------------------------------------------------ "It would be sending the wrong message to the children" is one of the standard responses to arguments in support of medical marijuana. I'm convinced that by keeping marijuana a Schedule One Controlled Substance, the federal government is sending the wrong message to my 14-year-old daughter. Our daughter's Sunday school teacher, a close family friend, contracted HIV through a blood transfusion in 1982. Diagnosed more than a decade later, AIDS eventually caught up with her. The side effects of the medications she took forced her to stop teaching. She couldn't eat and was being fed through a tube. She wasted away and looked like a skeleton. After visiting her my daughter had nightmares. In January 1997, California's Compassionate Use Act, Proposition 215, went into effect and we encouraged our friend to try cannabis, since she clearly qualified for its use. As a Sunday school teacher, she thought it would send the wrong message to her students. We finally convinced her to try it in private. Within weeks she was eating voraciously. She was out and about, enjoying herself. She returned to the classroom. Our young daughter saw the transformation. This unique medicine gave our friend two more years of life. In May 1999, our friend died from a ruptured pancreas, a result of the highly toxic AIDS medications she took. My daughter fully understands that Congress has made possession of marijuana a federal crime. I recently asked her whether the mixed messages confused her and how she could reconcile the government's stance with her own direct experience. "No, I'm not confused," she said. "They're just stupid." I want the next generation to be able to look up to our government and elected leaders. My daughter sees through the government's stubborn refusal to admit to marijuana's obvious medical benefit and the disinformation campaign used to support that inhumane position. And that sends the wrong message to my kid. Jane Marcus, Palo Alto, Calif. - ------------------------------------------------- The Supreme Court ruling against medical marijuana reflects the hypocrisy of the federal government. Justice Clarence Thomas stated that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use." If this is true, why does the federal government give my friend George McMahon a monthly supply of 300 pre-rolled medical marijuana cigarettes, courtesy of our tax dollars? George is one of only eight citizens in the US who continue to receive marijuana through the Compassionate Investigational Drug program, which was implemented under Reagan. George has a rare genetic disorder called Nail Patella Syndrome, which causes bone deformities and painful spasticity. His doctors state that if it were not for his supply of government marijuana, which eases nausea and spasms, he would probably be dead, and he has already lived 10 years beyond the life expectancy for people with his disorder. Although George smokes 10 marijuana cigarettes a day, he is eloquent and perceptive, and has spoken to legislators, educators, doctors, and law enforcement officials. The DEA classifies marijuana as a Schedule One substance, which recognizes no medical value in cannabis, and the Supreme Court ruling reflects that opinion. Doctors can prescribe cocaine and morphine, but not marijuana, and this has little to do with public health. The pharmaceutical industry has a strong lobbying influence in Washington. Marijuana cannot be patented in its natural form, but could be grown easily by patients, and legal drug companies might lose a considerable profit if marijuana were viewed as an acceptable medical alternative for dying or chronically ill patients. The call for research operates in a circular fashion. When pro-decriminalization groups push for drug law reform, the government says more research is needed. However, we lack sufficient research because of the drug laws, and legitimate scientists, who seek to perform controlled empirical tests on marijuana, face a daunting gauntlet of bureaucratic hurdles. In the meantime, while drug companies, politicians, and lawyers wrestle over where to draw the line in the sand, sick and dying people are arrested. We should not politicize pharmacology. Our descendants may one day mock this folly. Christopher Largen, The Colony, Texas - ---------------------------------------------- Cannabis has no lethal dose and its pharmacological effects have never caused a single death in more than 5,000 years of recorded history. The (unseen) driving force against medical (or unrestricted adult) legalization of cannabis is the fact that cannabis can't be patented. This precludes the need for big business to be involved and that fact makes cannabis commercially unattractive to the pharmaceutical, tobacco and alcohol industries (lobbies). It seems that if it can't be profitized successfully the government can't justify legalization even for the sick and dying. Furthermore, the war on cannabis drives the war on drugs. Without cannabis prohibition, the drug war would be reduced to a pillow fight. This is the politics and the economics of cannabis prohibition. Maybe the corrupt politicians and media are required to adhere to the party line of cannabis prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison and military industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the "drug treatment" industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, the politicians themselves et al can't live without the budget justification, not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are supposed to be inalienable according to the constitution and bill of rights. Myron Von Hollingsworth, Fort Worth, Texas - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk