CAN MARIJUANA BE MEDICINE?

Pros & Cons

YES: BALLOT PROPOSAL INCLUDES SAFEGUARDS TO PREVENT ABUSE

By Luther Symons

When voters go to the polls on Nov. 7, they will have the opportunity to
provide Coloradoans suffering from debilitating illnesses such as cancer,
glaucoma, AIDS or multiple sclerosis an additional treatment option for
their illnesses. Amendment 20 will allow doctors and patients, not the
government, to make medical decisions regarding the appropriateness of
marijuana as a medical treatment.

Marijuana has long been known to provide relief from the nausea associated
with chemotherapy treatments for cancer or the wasting syndrome often
associated with AIDS. Additionally, recent studies have documented the pain
management features of marijuana. It is a substance that relieves the
painful pressure in the eyes caused by glaucoma.

Numerous scientific studies - past and ongoing - provide evidence of these
medical benefits. Under current Colorado law, however, should patients seek
relief by using marijuana in consultation with their physicians they become
criminals. This is because there is no exception to criminal use and
possession statutes concerning marijuana for legitimate medical use. It is
exactly this situation that Amendment 20 seeks to redress.

Amendment 20 provides a tightly controlled process to ensure that only
qualifying patients - and no one else - will have access to marijuana
legally. Patients will be required to get a written diagnosis of a listed
debilitating illness from a licensed physician. The patient (or the
caregiver for those too ill to handle their own affairs) will be provided a
registry card identifying them as protected individuals under Amendment 20.

Generally, in America, we take the view that more treatment options are
better than fewer for medical professionals treating seriously ill
patients. Amendment 20 will give Colorado doctors and patients one
additional useful tool for dealing with the symptoms of debilitating
conditions. This is certainly not to suggest that doctors should not pursue
other options such as traditional pharmaceuticals but rather that they
should have the right to discuss the medical use of marijuana with their
patients and recommend it when appropriate.

There are those who suggest that by passing Amendment 20, Colorado voters
will be sending the wrong message to our children by telling them that it's
OK to smoke marijuana. In reality, Amendment 20 sends exactly the opposite
message: marijuana should be tightly controlled and used only under medical
conditions with the consultation of a doctor. Any other use of marijuana
would still be prohibited by law following passage of Amendment 20. Unlike
California's Proposition 215, passed in 1996, the Colorado amendment would
provide numerous safeguards against abuse. Law enforcement officials will
confront little, if any, uncertainty about the applicability of the law to
individuals caught using or possessing marijuana since qualifying patients
will have proof - their registry cards - that they are protected.
Additionally, Amendment 20 specifically states that employers do not have
to accommodate medical marijuana in the workplace and patients are
prohibited from using medical marijuana in public places.

By passing Amendment 20, Colorado voters will be sending the strongest
possible message that it is not right to make criminals out of seriously
and terminally ill people in Colorado. Rather it is in keeping with the
values and compassion of the citizens of this state to declare in the
strongest possible terms that our doctors and patients should have the
ability to pursue valid treatment options without the fear of criminal
sanctions.

Coloradans for Medical Rights 2000 is the proponent committee for Amendment
20, the Medical Marijuana Initiative. Please contact us at (303) 753-3625,
or e-mail info@medicalmarijuana.com.

NO: DRUG HASN'T MET FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR APPROVAL

By John Wesley Anderson

This election, Colorado voters will be faced with Amendment 20, the
marijuana ballot initiative. This is an attempt to amend our state
constitution in order to legalize the medical use of marijuana for persons
suffering from "debilitating medical conditions." While this appears on the
surface to be a compassionate and humane answer to very serious medical
issues, in fact, it is not a panacea, but an approach that will have
devastating effects on the future of our state. It is my position that the
legalization of smoking marijuana for medical purposes is neither good
medicine nor good law.

Popular vote is not an appropriate way for Americans to decide which
medicines are the safest and most effective cures. It is a misuse of the
ballot initiative, an abuse of our constitution and it would undermine the
rigorous process already in place through the Food and Drug Administration.
Currently, the FDA requires a drug to pass an eight-stage testing process
before it can be made available to the public. The smoking of marijuana for
medicinal purposes has passed none of these eight stages. The bypassing of
FDA scrutiny means that the public cannot be assured that smoking marijuana
is a safe and effective medicine or that the benefits of using it outweigh
the risks. In addition, over the last 20 years, federal agencies such as
the FDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Public
Health Service, have determined that smoking marijuana has no redeeming
medicinal value and is, in fact, harmful to one's health.

Furthermore, pharmaceutical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the main
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, is currently available in an oral
prescription form. This prescription is referred to medically as Marinol.
However, it has been found that the drug Marinol has several potential
adverse effects and the FDA has determined that there are now medicines
that have proven to be more effective than Marinol.

In addition, based on extensive studies conducted by the manufacturers of
Marinol, they have concluded that THC is an extremely harmful drug. Most
importantly, according to the Concerned Citizens for Drug Prevention, a
nonprofit drug awareness organization, marijuana is considered to be a
gateway drug for our youth, leading to the use and abuse of more dangerous
drugs such as heroin and cocaine. For example, of those who smoke marijuana
three to 10 times, 20 percent go on to use cocaine; of those who use
marijuana 100 or more times, 75 percent go on to use cocaine. Those who do
not use marijuana at all almost never become cocaine users. If we want to
decrease the rate of teenage drug use and prevent teen-agers from using
more dangerous drugs, lessons taught in our DARE programs, we must continue
to oppose all efforts to legalize marijuana.

When deciding on how to vote on a ballot issue it is important to closely
examine those groups that are in support and those in opposition to the
proposal. Opposing Amendment 20 from the public safety community are the
County Sheriffs of Colorado, Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police,
Colorado District Attorneys Council and the Colorado Fraternal Order of
Police. Also, in opposition to this amendment from the medical community
are the Colorado Medical Society, Colorado Academy of Family Practitioners,
Colorado Health and Hospital Association and the Colorado Dental
Association. These Colorado-based organizations oppose Amendment 20, while
at the same time the vast majority of funding for the campaign in support
of Amendment 20 comes from California-based Americans for Medical Rights.

We, in Colorado, need to become fully aware of the devastating effects
Amendment 20 would have on our society. Recently, in Arizona and
California, apathy by citizens in those states led to the approval of this
dangerous movement to legalize the medical use of marijuana. In Colorado,
we need to overcome apathy, through education, to ensure that the
legalization of marijuana for medical purposes does not become part of our
state constitution. I would urge you to please send a loud and resounding
message to those that want to legalize marijuana for any reason by voting
no on Amendment 20.