Pubdate: Mon, 28 Apr 2003
Source: Nation, The (US)
Copyright: 2003 The Nation Company
Contact:  http://www.thenation.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/285
Author: Bruce Mirken

DEAN ON POT & GUNS

It is disturbing to watch presidential candidate Howard Dean spout 
doublespeak on medical marijuana. In David Corn's "Meet The Nation" [March 
31], Dean says, "I hate the idea of legislators and politicians practicing 
medicine," adding that he would press the FDA to study marijuana. The eight 
existing state medical-marijuana laws (like the proposal Dean killed in 
Vermont last year) simply say that under state law, people with AIDS, 
cancer or other serious illnesses won't face arrest and jail for using 
marijuana for medical purposes with their doctor's recommendation. It has 
been FDA policy since the mid-1980s that Americans have the right to go 
overseas, purchase drugs not approved for sale here and bring them back for 
their personal use. Many of these drugs are far more toxic than marijuana, 
a medicinal herb that has never produced a fatal overdose in 5,000 years of 
use.

Bruce Mirken Marijuana Policy Project Washington, D.C.
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