THE GENERAL'S LOOPHOLE

Drug Czar Cripples Reefer Tests

In his most recent round of unintended self-immolation, drug czar
Barry McCaffrey effectively nullified drug testing for marijuana users
nationwide. In a move that he hoped would bring the medical marijuana
movement to its knees, the retired general instead gave pot smokers
legal carte blanche to fail every urine test they take.

Here's how it happened: This past July, the Drug Enforcement
Administration, with a nod from the Food and Drug Administration,
reclassified the prescription drug Marinol, which is synthetic THC,
the most psycho-active of marijuana's many cannabinoids. Marinol was
moved from Schedule II, the most restrictive category of drugs
available by prescription, to Schedule III. The change makes it much
easier for doctors to distribute the drug. Notably, they now can
phone or fax prescriptions to pharmacies and provide for as many as
five automatic refills every six months. They also won't have the DEA
looking over their shoulder each time they write a Marinol
prescription.

McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, used the reclassification to again attack the idea of
marijuana as medicine, calling Marinol the only "safe and proper way"
to make THC available to the public. "This action will make Marinol,
which is scientifically proven to be safe and effective for medical
use, more widely available," McCaffrey said, implying that marijuana
itself is not safe or effective, despite much evidence to the contrary.

The government's message is clear: Now that "safe and proper" Marinol
is more readily available, we don't need to legalize unsafe and
improper marijuana for medical use. This plan worked once before,
which seems to have given McCaffrey some confidence it will work
again. In the mid- Eighties, when marijuana was on the verge of being
reclassified so it could be legally prescribed, the federal government
funded the development of Marinol and pushed it through the FDA
approval process. It then used the availability of synthetic THC as a
pretext for refusing to remove marijuana from the same forbidden
Schedule I classification it shares with heroin and other narcotics.

So while they have the same active ingredient, marijuana remains
forbidden while Marinol moves into the polite society of Tylenol with
codeine. How easy is it to get a prescription for Marinol? Very
easy. Doctors are permitted to provide any prescription drug for
"off-label" use. That is, if a doctor determines that a prescription
drug labeled by the manufacturer to treat, say, nausea, would also be
effective for treating pain, the doctor can prescribe it for pain.

This is going to happen with more frequency. A recent report by the
National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, which McCaffrey
praises as "the most comprehensive summary and analysis of what is
known about the medical use of marijuana," concluded that THC could be
useful not only to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients and prevent the
nausea that's caused by cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, but
also to relieve chronic pain. (The full report, Marijuana and
Medicine, is available online at books.nap.edu.) The potential for
Marinol to treat chronic pain is enormous. Experts estimate at least
75 million Americans suffer from chronic, debilitating pain. This
includes pain caused by cancer, arthritis, migraine headaches and
severe back injuries.

Seventy-five million! That means nearly half the adult population of
the U.S. is properly and legally entitled to Marinol and, by
extension, free from the burden of passing clean urine. There is no
legally recognized test that distinguishes between the synthetic THG
of Marinol and the natural THC of marijuana. Once a testee obtains a
prescription for Marinol and shows it to the drug-testing authorities,
THC levels in urine, hair, saliva and sweat no longer indicate a
failed drug test. The test comes up dirty, but the prescription
washes it clean. Employers aren't able to say, "You can't use Marinol
if you work here," because it's a legal and now widely prescribed
drug. Marinol could become as big as Viagra. (Marinol is a great
high, too, rather like eating hash brownies. Don't even think about
driving on it. Marinol's makers suggest you take your first dose only
in the presence of "a responsible adult.")

So, in his cruel attempt to keep an ancient medicine from modern
sufferers, Contrary Barry has created a loophole that allows all users
to use their drug of choice and keep their jobs.

McCzar, this bud's for you.