REBUTTAL TO MARIJUANA ARTICLE BY JEFFREY A. MIRON

Harms Of Marijuana Are Real And Medically Established

This is a rebuttal of the reply by Jeffrey A. Miron to my article on
marijuana in the January 2000 Massachusetts News.

I agree with Mr. Miron that "the literature on marijuana is vast and
contains at least one or two studies that appear to support almost any
view." Why is this so? We are bombarded by propaganda on marijuana funded
by vast sums from the drug cartels, which is designed to support their
cocaine and heroin products. This confusion is augmented by naïve
individuals who are blindly repeating the propaganda.

Miron claims that this newspaper is not an appropriate forum to debate the
scientific facts of marijuana. He says that we should listen to the
"experts." I object. In this field which is dominated by drug money and by
confused people who are caught in drug dependence, the wise parents should
examine the evidence on marijuana themselves. When one studies the
information on marijuana carefully, it is easy to find where the truth lies.

'Disguised Propaganda' From Drug Cartels

Hundreds of billions of dollars are made each year in the cocaine and
heroin drug trade. The drug cartels are very sophisticated, and so we can
expect that they are spending enormous sums in disguised advertising and
influence to support their products. The drug cartels know that marijuana
is the stepping stone leading to cocaine and heroin addiction. As long as
they can convince innocent kids to play around with marijuana, they know
that a significant number will eventually graduate to cocaine and heroin,
and thereby will provide a continual supply of addicts to support their
drug trade.

Marijuana is radically different in this respect from alcohol. Countless
studies since the 1960's have continually shown that of those who have used
alcohol but not marijuana, practically no one has used cocaine or heroin.
Of those who smoke marijuana at least once a week, about half have taken
cocaine or heroin.

Pot smokers know that the chemical effect of marijuana on the body is very
different from alcohol. When a regular marijuana user quits smoking pot, he
can test positive to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, for more than
a month after he quits. The reason for this is that THC dissolves readily
in fat, and so is stored for many weeks in the fatty tissues of the body.
Consequently, marijuana is very slow acting. It is highly potent but
appears to be mild because it works so slowly.

Kids play around with pot because it superficially seems to be harmless.
However THC steadily builds up in the body fat, and slowly drags them into
a state of continual sedation. Their minds become so confused that many of
them eventually graduate into cocaine and heroin addiction. The drug
cartels understand this, and are obviously spending large sums of money to
keep the marijuana issue confused. As long as many kids believe that
marijuana is relatively harmless, their drug profits are guaranteed.

Scientific Evidence Against Marijuana

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) was set up by the federal
government to sponsor drug abuse research. During the 1970's NIDA sponsored
excellent research on marijuana, which proved it to be very harmful.

Our knowledge concerning marijuana reached a pinnacle in July 1978, at an
international symposium on the Biological Effects of Marijuana, which was
held in Reims, France. The proceedings of this prestigious symposium, which
was part of the 7th Congress of the International Union of Pharmacological
Sciences, are published in Marijuana, Biological Effects, Gabriel G. Nahas
and Sir. William D. M. Paton, editors.

It gives extensive, scientific proof that marijuana is very harmful. The
most frightening evidence is the report by Dr. Robert Heath of Tulane
University on his experiments of the effect of marijuana on the monkey
brain. As I reported in my earlier article, these very thorough studies
showed that the consumption of moderate amounts of marijuana by the monkeys
severely damaged their brain cells and their brain waves generated deeply
in the brain.

If the scientific evidence against marijuana was so clear in 1978, why does
it appear to be confused today? Have more recent studies refuted any of
this evidence? Of course not. The public is generally unaware of this
evidence because it has been buried.

In the late 1970's, new leadership took control of NIDA, and the excellent
marijuana research was cancelled. Since about 1980, essentially no
meaningful research concerning marijuana has been supported by NIDA.

In 1988, the White House sponsored a conference to discuss means of
improving our effectiveness in fighting drugs, which was called the White
House Conference for a Drug-Free America. The final report of this
conference is given in Final Report, the White House Conference for a
Drug-Free America, June 1988, Library of Congress. On page 146, the final
report made the following recommendation:

"Recommendation 7: An independent evaluation of the National Institute on
Drug Abuse should be conducted."

No action was ever taken on this recommendation.

Standard of Evidence

In 1980, when NIDA cancelled the tremendous research of Dr. Robert Heath,
it justified its action with the statement that this research applies only
to monkeys, and we do not know that it applies to humans. NIDA has adopted
the philosophy that marijuana is innocent until unequivocally proven
guilty. This same philosophy underlies the vast body of so-called
"research" that Mr. Miron quotes in his article. If medical science used
this same standard of evidence relative to other substances, it would know
nothing.

Miron charges that my evidence on marijuana is highly skewed. In rebuttal I
submit the scientific studies in the international symposium, published in
1979. This is a prestigious document which proves conclusively that
marijuana is very harmful. For reasons that I have explained, very little
scientific marijuana research of substance has been supported since 1980,
and so I must refer back to this 1979 document as my primary standard of
evidence on marijuana.

Protecting Kids From Drugs

We are surrounded by countless tragedies caused by the drug abuse of our
young people. No parent should be complacent. All parents should take the
time to examine the facts of marijuana themselves so that their children
will not be among the casualties.

Scientific evidence has clearly proven that marijuana is very harmful in
and of itself. It is probably our most dangerous drug because it is so
deceptive. Since it works slowly over many weeks, the user is rarely aware
of the damage it is causing. As THC gradually builds up in the body,
marijuana seductively lures the user into a confused dream world. The
marijuana smoked today is all the more destructive, because it contains ten
times as much THC as in the 1960's.