The Federal Official Says It Is A Political Effort To Legalize The
Drug In Oregon

PORTLAND -- Drug czar John Walters said Thursday that medical
marijuana is being used as a political ploy to support efforts to
legalize marijuana in a state where it already poses the most serious
drug abuse problem for teenagers.

Walters said that about 25 percent of the teens in the Portland metro
area who report drug abuse problems say they are dependent on
marijuana, compared with 15 percent who report alcohol abuse.

Their parents are part of the baby boom generation, which considers
marijuana a soft drug that poses only a minor problem compared to hard
drugs such as heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine, he said.

But marijuana remains the biggest abuse problem in the nation,
especially for teens and young adults, Walters said.

"The greatest enemy in this area is cynicism," Walters
said.

The director of National Drug Control Policy, a job that has acquired
the nickname "drug czar," was visiting Portland on a tour of the 25
largest U.S. cities to promote state and local drug enforcement and
abuse prevention efforts.

Walters said most of the abuse problems are concentrated in those 25
cities, so the Bush administration is trying to focus funding on local
efforts to deal with those problems, including treatment and
rehabilitation programs.

But he had harsh words for medical-marijuana advocates in Oregon,
accusing them of playing into the hands of legalization advocates
seeking to decriminalize all marijuana use.

"What's really going on is that sick and dying people are being used
as a political prop to legalize marijuana," Walters said.

But a spokesman for the Stormy Ray Foundation, backers of the Oregon
medical marijuana law, said the law is aimed only at helping a small
number of people who are suffering from serious disease and do not
respond well with conventional treatment.

"The effort to legalize marijuana for medical purposes in the state of
Oregon has not involved pursuit of wholesale legalization," spokesman
Duane Raley said. "I would say that John Walters is uninformed, or
he's promoting his own message, contrary to the facts."

Oregon is one of nine states, including Washington and California,
that allow limited use of marijuana for medical purposes under the
direction of a doctor.

Raley noted that Oregon's law differs from California's by restricting
marijuana cultivation to the patients who use it. The state Department
of Human Services simply processes applications and monitors marijuana
prescriptions by doctors.

"The state is not placed in the position of being a provider of
medical marijuana to the patient, and we think that's a good thing,"
Raley said.

The foundation said there were 4,473 patients registered for treatment
in Oregon as of May, with 747 applications pending.

Walters said the Bush administration is spending millions of dollars
on research to find out whether any ingredients in marijuana have some
medical benefit and can be turned into prescription drugs.

He said many prescription drugs are based on the ingredients in
heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs, but drugs derived from those
substances are controlled by doctors and have shown true medical
benefits after decades of research and clinical experience.

"It's not about feeling better; it's about what is ethical and
efficacious medical practice," Walters said. "Smoking marijuana has
not met that standard."

The Bush administration has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether
the government can strip a doctor's license to prescribe drugs if
medical marijuana is prescribed.

The administration has appealed a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
ruling that blocked the federal government from punishing doctors who
prescribe medical marijuana.

Walters was joined by some of the top law enforcement leaders in the
city, including U.S. Attorney Michael Mosman, Portland police Chief
Mark Kroeker and Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto.

Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov )

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