PUBLIC FACES MEDICAL MARIJUANA SCAM

A recent article in the Daily Bulletin regarding medical marijuana
failed to mention the fallacies and problems associated with what has
become a personal mission and profession for a limited few to
blatantly distort the truth in an attempt to lead readers to believe
that smoked marijuana is medicine.

The simple failure to mention the scores of young adults and others
who obtain marijuana cards simply to get high is rather astonishing.
Instead, The Sun was scammed by the pro-legalization movement that
constantly seeks out and pushes the sick in the view of the media for
their own selfish cause.

Never will they tell you about the scores of youth and adults who
have California-issued marijuana cards for no other purpose than to
get high. Now that would make a story worth publishing.

The public is not fooled. After a decade of watching the failures of
Prop 215, enough is enough. With all of the talk about medical
marijuana it is hard to separate truth and science from ideology and
dogma. In recent years, marijuana activists in the state have donned
white coats and exclaimed a new-found concern for the seriously ill,
while legislators and judges have been left to wrestle with the
consequences of a poorly written referendum, Proposition 215.

Unfortunately, Proposition 215 has nothing to do with the sick and
dying, as a simple read of its text reveals that marijuana can be
legally recommended for "any illness for which marijuana provides
relief." This has led to a multi-million dollar, state-sanctioned
drug distribution industry, resulting in a substantial increase in
medical fraud (the drug has been recommended for everything from
hangnails to fatigue to reduced sex drive), "medical marijuana" use
by minors, and increased local crime.

That is why scores of California localities, like San Diego, San
Marcos, Anaheim, Oxnard, Rancho Cucamonga, Norco, Hemet, Fontana,
Murrieta, Temecula, Colton, Chino and Claremont (among others), after
thoroughly studying the issue, have come out with a ban on such dispensaries.

They should be commended. A recent column in the Los Angeles Times,
"This bud's for you, and you, and you" by Joel Stein, and a 2007
expose by "60 Minutes" have revealed just how easy it is to obtain
marijuana - "sick" or not. So it is also not surprising that the Food
and Drug Administration, American Medical Association, and the
renowned Mayo Clinic have come out against smoked marijuana as a
so-called "medicine."

A landmark study almost 10 years ago, conducted by the Institute of
Medicine, stated that "... smoked marijuana should generally not be
recommended for ... medical use." Smoked marijuana (smoked anything)
has never passed basic medical standards of safety and efficacy.

Medical marijuana dispensaries mask as havens for the sick, when in
reality they serve as city-condoned centers for drug use. Of course
there may be some people who genuinely use it to "feel better" from
their illness, but smoking a drug as volatile and unstable as
marijuana is like chewing on willow bark to partake in the benefits of aspirin.

For those whose doctors think that some components of the cannabis
plant may be therapeutic, Marinol, derived from the plant's most
active ingredient, THC, already exists. Though it's not often
prescribed, doctors have the right to prescribe this drug if they
feel it would best serve their patient (though non-cannabis-based
drugs are almost always chosen as a first resort). Other isolated
components in marijuana - delivered in aerosol sprays or patches -
are currently being studied and research in this area is important.

Cannabis-based drugs could indeed open new pathways to fight obesity,
nausea, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses, but, just as someone
should not inject heroin to gain the therapeutic effects of morphine,
these drugs need to be used in the proper context and setting.

Legalizing smoked marijuana under the guise of medicine is
irresponsible and contradictory to basic scientific standards for
therapeutic drugs. Even if smoking marijuana might make someone to
"feel better," that is not enough to call it a medicine. If that was
the case, then tobacco cigarettes or vodka shots could be called
medicine because they are often attributed with making one "feel
better." Furthermore, it is contrary to common sense and established
law to have the electorate, influenced by big spending from
pro-marijuana interest groups, decide what medicine is.

Serious loopholes exist in Proposition 215 that permit the abuse of
current drug laws, and allow drug dealers to avoid arrest and
prosecution. These are key reasons why a large, growing number of
city and county governments have moved toward banning medical
marijuana identification cards and dispensaries. Other California
communities should follow suit. Science needs to be the basis of both
our legal and illegal drug policies, not political ploys designed to
legalize smoked marijuana for any reason.

Concerned communities, parents, educators and youth can learn more
about the dangers of marijuana at www.ivdfc.org.