MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS BAD MEDICINE

Normally when a new drug is introduced onto the market, vigorous scientific
testing is required before it is allowed for public use. This process
guarantees that drugs are safe and effective, that the benefits outweigh
the risks and that physicians have had sufficient information to permit
accurate prescription. This is particularly important for a drug with a
potential for abuse such as marijuana.

But proponents for legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes are not
content to subject marijuana to the same high standards of scientific
research as for other drugs. Instead, they are using the political process
to get their way, and thereby placing the public safety, in particular our
youth, at risk with their efforts.

Of the medical research already conducted, there is ample evidence that
marijuana causes much more harm than good. A 1997 statement from the
Office of National Drug Control Policy stated: "Proponents of [medical
marijuana] ballot initiatives present marijuana as a benign substance.
However, the latest scientific evidence demonstrates that marijuana is not.
Smoked marijuana damages the brain, heart, lungs and immune system. It
impairs learning and interferes with memory, perception and judgment.
Smoked marijuana contains cancer-causing compounds and has been implicated
in a high percentage of automobile crashes and workplace accidents.
Marijuana related visits to hospital emergency rooms have tripled since
1990. Marijuana is also associated with gateway behavior leading to more
extensive drug use. This phenomenon poses serious concerns given the
significant increase in marijuana use by teenagers."

History has shown that when the public perceives a drug not to be harmful
as would clearly be the case if marijuana were viewed as medicine then
abuse increases dramatically.

Unfortunately, the marijuana legalization drive has already taken a toll on
our young. The Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports nearly half
of the teens and children who entered treatment in 1996 were admitted for
abuse or addiction to marijuana alone.

And according to a survey conducted by the Iowa Department of Education,
regular or heavy use of marijuana by Iowa youth nearly doubled between 1990
and 1996. The last thing Iowa needs is further reinforcement of the view
that marijuana is harmless.

But do our efforts to protect Iowa's youth mean that victims of cancer,
glaucoma and AIDS are condemned to suffer needlessly?

No. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration recently eased restrictions
on Marinol, a byproduct of marijuana. Barry McCaffrey, director of
national drug control policy, said the capsulized form of Marinol is the
"safe and proper way" to provide medical relief for sick people. Marinol
allows doctors to prescribe a specific dosage, which they cannot set with
marijuana use.

In addition, Marinol does not pose the added concern of potential lung
damage from smoking marijuana. There are other safe alternatives to
smoking pot as well.

In an Aug. 4, 1997, letter to thenGov. Terry Branstad, McCaffrey wrote that
"researchers have shown that the main active ingredient in marijuana has
precisely the same impact as heroin on a key brain site that influences
addiction to many drugs. The same researchers also found that abrupt
cessation of longterm marijuana use causes the same kind of cellular
withdrawal reaction in lab rats as that produced by other major drugs of
abuse."

Given the danger poised by marijuana, it isn’t surprising that the
advocates of "medicinal marijuana” would select politics over the
long established process of rigorous scientific scrutiny to get their way.