SMOKING IS HEALTHY?

Well, no, smoking isn't actually healthy. But the American College of
Physicians -- an association of internists -- recently decided that
smoking marijuana is therapeutic, right?

Not quite. We need to draw a crucial distinction here. What a lot of
people don't get -- and other people try to obscure -- is that the
real argument about medical marijuana is about delivery, not content.

One guy who apparently doesn't get it is the writer of the Los
Angeles Times article on the College's position paper. The story
dwelt on marijuana advocates' glee that the ACP had joined their
cause. It accurately noted the ACP's (accurate) conclusion that some
of the chemicals in cannabis had medicinal value. But it left out a
small detail: The College pointedly rejected the smoking of marijuana.

Take this excerpt, for example:

"The chronic effects of smoked marijuana are of much greater concern,
as its gas and tar phases contain many of the same compounds as
tobacco smoke. Chronic use of smoked marijuana is associated with
increased risk of cancer, lung damage, bacterial pneumonia, and poor
pregnancy outcomes."

Also: "Although the long-term effects of smoked marijuana may not be
relevant for patients with terminal illnesses or debilitating
symptoms, the residual effects of smoked marijuana are
prohibitive for long-term medical use."

In other words, you don't get healthy by smoking bud. Sorry to spoil
the party, dudes.

What the ACP actually advocates is the development of pure, precisely
dosed pharmaceuticals -- not smoke from burning leaves -- that
deliver the medically useful compounds in cannabis like, well, real
medicine.

And since the dope-smoking lobby is cherry-picking from this report,
let's pick a couple cherries of our own:

- - In "medical marijuana" states like Washington, marijuana cigarettes
are sometimes recommended for chronic conditions (see "chronic
effects" above). These include glaucoma and epilepsy. But the ACP is
highly skeptical of marijuana's much-touted power to treat these
conditions.

- - The high-inducing tetrahydracannabinol (THC) in marijuana does
relieve pain at lower doses. But it intensifies sensitivity to pain
at higher doses -- another good reason for controlled doses.

The ACP does fall in with High Times in calling for the federal
government not to threaten doctors or patients with prosecution in
states that allow medical marijuana. The problem here is that
criminal drug-dealing syndicates have been concealing themselves
among good faith medical marijuana operations.

On the science, the College is dead on. On the realities of law
enforcement, maybe not so much.