VOTERS SHOULD JUST SAY NO TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Voters should just say no to ballot initiatives that legalize smoking
marijuana for medical reasons: They're bad medicine as well as bad
legislation, argues James McDonough in the upcoming issue of Policy Review,
published by the Heritage Foundation.

McDonough, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control Policy, notes
that a number of the active ingredients in marijuana have demonstrated real
potential for relieving such symptoms as pain, nausea and lack of appetite.
And he recommends "ambitious research ... to understand fully how these
substances affect the human body."

So what's the problem? Simply this: From a strictly medical standpoint,
smoking pot is a lousy way to deliver the benefits of marijuana - sort of
like puffing on an opium pipe instead of taking morphine-based prescription
drugs, he claims.

"Botanical products are susceptible to problems with consistency,
contaminations, uncertain potencies, and instabilities. After all, we are
talking about a leaf, and a burning one at that," he writes.

Smoking marijuana also poses risks of its own - and McDonough's not talking
about the occasional exploding seed. A UCLA researcher reported that the
carcinogens found in pot smoke are "far stronger than those in tobacco."

Still, pro-pot initiatives are all the rage. In 1998 alone, five states
passed measures that legalize smoking marijuana for medical reasons, and
more are expected to win places on the ballot this year. Six others permit
doctors to prescribe pot to patients - though he claims few doctors do.

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