THE FALSE PROMISE OF MARIJUANA

Even the most vigorous opponents of drug use normally soften their stand a
bit when it comes to smoking marijuana for medical purposes.

The drug is said to ease the pain and enhance the appetite of cancer
patients. It also may help alleviate glaucoma and other ailments.

Drug advocates have pushed hard for the legalization of the medicinal use
of marijuana, knowing this is one area where they can win the public's
sympathy. Seven states already have approved such use through voter
referendums.

But the forces behind these votes are usually less interested in the
compassionate treatment of the sick than in bringing the nation closer to
legalizing all recreational drugs.

Americans might be more suspicious of these campaigns if they read an
article by James R. McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug
Control, in the latest issue of Policy Review magazine.

McDonough points out that there is no scientific evidence to prove that
smoking marijuana has medical benefits.

Rather, research indicates certain properties in the cannabis plant have
medical potential but that more studies are needed on the matter. In any
event, the therapeutic effects of smoking marijuana are mild and much less
effective than available legal drugs.

Physicians, too, worry about the damage the sick do to their lungs by
smoking marijuana, which research indicates can be as harmful as smoking
tobacco. Further, the effects of pot vary wildly, according to cultivation,
so there is little control over a patient's dosage.

McDonough writes that scientists interested in improving patient care favor
the development of a ``smoke-free, rapid-onset delivery system for
compounds found in the plant.''

He does not oppose the development of such a drug. But he is right to warn
against substituting harmful, mind- altering substances for effective
medicines.

And McDonough strips the medical pretense from the pro-drug crowd when he
concludes, ``Cannabinoids found in the marijuana plant offer the potential
for medical use. However, lighting the leaves of the plant on fire and
smoking them amount to an impractical delivery system that involves health
risks and deleterious legal consequences. There is a profound difference
between an approval process that seeks to purify isolated compounds for
safe and effective delivery, and legalization of smoking the raw plant
material as medicine.

``To advocate the latter is to bypass the safety and efficacy built into
America's medical system. Ballot initiatives for smoked marijuana comprise
a dangerous, impractical shortcut that circumvents the drug-approval
process. The resulting decriminalization of a dangerous and harmful drug
turns out to be counterproductive - legally, politically and
scientifically.''