DOCTORS IN SUPPORT OF LEGALIZING POT

The Canadian Medical Association Journal is no ordinary newsletter. It is
not in the habit of giving free expression to radical, off-the-wall
opinions simply to provoke discussion.

No, by most accounts, the Canadian Medical Association Journal is staid and
cautious. It is conservative, given over mainly to research reports. It is
solemn to the point of nausea.

So when it proposes (as it does in an editorial this week) that marijuana
possession be decriminalized, that's news. When it backs this stance by
arguing that the social and legal fallout of being arrested for marijuana
possession far outweighs the minimal health effects of the drug's moderate
use, that's even bigger news.

Contrast this stance with the overcautious pussy-footing that accompanied
Health Canada's announcement last month on the subject. It suggested
absolutely no big break with the traditional prejudice against marijuana
and marijuana-users. As announced by Health Minister Allan Rock, new rules
would allow certain people -- those who are either very ill or close to
death -- to inhale. Otherwise, marijuana would continue to be treated as an
illegal substance for all other citizens.

Specifically, if you can produce convincing evidence that you'll be dead
within a year, Rock (in his generosity) will let you have legal access to
reefers, if you can find and pay for them. If you are having severe pain,
nausea, anorexia, seizures, spasms or you are weak from diseases such as
cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis or severe arthritis, however, legal
availability becomes somewhat more difficult. To earn the right to smoke
pot, you have to present a statement from a medical specialist declaring
that conventional treatments have been applied and have been found wanting.

What bureaucratic nonsense, says the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Editor Dr. John Hoey says marijuana is a relatively innocuous drug whose
main source of harm to the average user is in the tar it contains. In that
respect, it is on par with tobacco. But in another important respect, it is
not on par with tobacco, for it contains absolutely no nicotine.

Of course, the Canadian Medical Association Journal does not set Canadian
government policy. Rock does, and he's clearly committed to the notion that
marijuana is a vile, dangerously addictive substance that, when bought and
smoked, normally transforms ordinary citizens into drug-crazed criminals
and suppliers into thieves.

That notion may be wrong, but it's going to keep the police and the courts
busy for the foreseeable future on its behalf.

That's too bad, for as Hoey points out, even a small, almost medically
harmless stash of marijuana can easily (and unjustifiably) result in "that
indelible social taboo: a criminal record."

An influential medical journal tells the federal government to lighten up.