DOPES DON'T GET IT

At the urging of pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, the Food and Drug
Administration is considering making a lot more prescription drugs
available over the counter [news story, June 28].

All of these drugs have potentially lethal side effects and should be
prescribed and monitored by a physician, but the pharmaceutical industry
would have us think otherwise. Of course, their only motivation is profit,
not the health of Americans. Already, more than 100,000 Americans die each
year from side effects of legally prescribed medications.

Meanwhile, the FDA refuses to reschedule marijuana so physicians can
prescribe it. Unlike the dangerous medications the FDA is considering
allowing for sale, marijuana has no lethal dose.

In 1988--after reviewing all evidence brought forth in a lawsuit against
the government's prohibition of medical marijuana--the DEA's own
administrative law judge wrote: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of
the safest therapeutically active substances known."

Yet the FDA and other federal agencies not only continue to suppress
research on marijuana's medical benefits, but also limit access to only
eight Americans, while subjecting even sick and dying residents of states
that have legalized medical marijuana to arrest, prosecution and jail.

Medical marijuana, with the potential to replace many legal medications,
represents an inexpensive, natural alternative to costly and toxic
prescription medications. The FDA's refusal to acknowledge this while
acting as an agent of pharmaceutical corporations is a national shame.

Gary Storck, Madison, Wis.