BILL OFFERS SLIPPERY SLOPE TO DRUG ABUSE

Seventeen years ago, my 61-year-old mother died of cancer. I saw her
suffer. So, for me the issue of smoking marijuana for "medicinal"
purposes is not a purely clinical and impersonal issue.

But compassion for the sick and dying is not the real issue. It is
about allowing our compassion to be manipulated by those with a
larger agenda -- legalization of marijuana and even other illegal drugs.

I do not say this to cast aspersions upon my former legislative
colleagues backing this bill. I don't believe they intend to
encourage the general legalization of marijuana. But if we start down
this road, intent does not determine our final destination.

Others, including the FDA and the American Medical Association, have
made the case that marijuana is not considered modern medicine.
Further, there are credible alternatives and scientific research is
continuing. Our part-time, bi-vocational legislators are not superior
to the FDA in determining what constitutes a real and effective drug.

So, I ask you to consider the implications for exacerbating the
problems of our already drug-saturated culture. 'Patient' as drug dealer

First, the bill permits the "patient" to grow up to six mature
marijuana plants. We are talking about a number of plants that can
produce more than 13,000 joints. Talk about putting the patient in
charge of the drugstore. And if we have a hard time controlling
regular prescription drugs, there is no chance we will be able to
limit the unlawful distribution of thousands of "doses" of a "home-grown" drug.

Second, in virtually every state where this has been approved, those
national organizations supporting it have come back to "expand" the
availability of marijuana -- new conditions, looser controls,
increased growing privileges, etc. For them, helping the dying is not
the endgame, and they make no bones about it. The mission statement
of the Marijuana Policy Project, supporters of which recently
testified here, says it "envisions public policies that allow for the
responsible non-medical use of marijuana (emphasis added)." Medicinal
use is not the endgame.

What these groups know and we need to appreciate is that this is
about more than compassion and some immediate benefit to the
suffering. They know that by approving such laws, we are
communicating to our young people that marijuana is "medicine." And
it is easy for them (and really anyone who by nature may desire to
look for excuses to rationalize what one wants to do) to conclude
that that if marijuana is "medicine," it can't be all that bad.

When the Dutch decriminalized marijuana usage, usage didn't change
for seven years among those ages 18-20. Then, when "normalcy" sunk
in, usage increased from 15 percent to 44 percent. We suffer enough
as a society from the harm and destruction brought by the abuse of
other intoxicants without opening the floodgates to the even greater
potential dangers by use of this kind of appropriately controlled substance.

Don't let our elected leaders take us down a road we never intended to travel.