PHYSICIAN SUPPORTS LEGALIZING MEDICAL "POT"

It was with some dismay that I read of the Supreme Court's ruling that
"medical necessity" does not constitute an exception to the federal
laws against the manufacture and distribution of marijuana.

As a physician, I am aware of the great number of individuals with the
AIDS, cancer multiple sclerosis and other chronic neuromuscular
conditions whose suffering would be greatly relieved with its use.

Unfortunately, it is our nonmedical representatives in the U.S.
Congress who made the erroneous judgment that marijuana has no medical
value and is, therefore, a Class I drug under the Controlled
Substances Act.

Those of us who are trained in medicine and have some compassion for
human suffering are trying to get the state of Arkansas to join nine
other states in providing the option for health care providers to
prescribe marijuana for their patients who truly need it.

Our conservative state legislative house gave only cursory
consideration to that option during the last session, apparently
thinking there must be some valid reason for the federal ban on its
use. It is ridiculous that doctors can, and do, prescribe far more
addictive and dangerous drugs for their patients, but cannot even
recommend the use of a safe and effective at drug like marijuana
without the threat of criminal prosecution.

I urge you to sign the petition, when you see it, to put medical
marijuana on the ballot in 2002 and to write your representatives in
the U.S. House and Senate urging them to revise the Controlled
Substances Act to permit the appropriate use of a valuable therapeutic
agent, marijuana.

Dana B. Copp
Springdale