Note: Dear Readers: A part of this item was posted earlier today with the
title 'MARIJUANA AS A DRUG?' It came from an AP item called 'Editorial
Roundup' which contains 'excerpts from editorials.' The AP appeared to use
the first sentence of the editorial as the title. The AP item did not
identify which of the two newspapers by the same publisher, the morning
'Exponent' or the evening 'Telegraph' the editorial was in.
From the website above we found the entire editorial and the data provided
above. Note that the email address is the best we could find. The website
does not indicate if they accept LTEs by email.

SMOKING MARIJUANA THE WRONG ANSWER FOR PATIENTS WRACKED BY PAIN

Marijuana as a drug? Not a good idea, we say, because "medical marijuana"
is merely a subterfuge for "recreational" pot smoking.

Those driving the big push for laws to allow marijuana for medicinal
purposes - do they really expect, or want, their campaign to stop there?
Hardly.

Since doctors already have safe and effective medicines for all the
symptoms that smoked marijuana is purported to relieve, it somewhat cuts
off at the pass the argument for legalizing pot smoking.

They must have only been reading the portion of the Institute of Medicine
report that interested them rather than all of it. They must have been
looking at the confirmation that marijuana’s compounds provide modest
relief for some patients suffering from various agonizing diseases.

But what the medical marijuana pushers may have missed - possibly because
they just were not looking for it - was the portion that confirms that
marijuana is a dangerous drug.

We are quite aware that there are many diseases that cause excruciating
pain and severe discomfort, including terminal illnesses. However, the
active ingredient in smoked marijuana is available in pill form. Even
faster ways of delivering relief may be available in the not-too-distant
future. We would have no real problem, if taken in those forms.

But with so many other means of alleviating pain or discomfort, to legalize
the smoking of marijuana for the ailing would inevitably be the next step
before legalizing it for the recreational marijuana smokers, including
teen-agers. And where would things go from there?

One of the most avid agencies hoping for the legalization of smoked
marijuana is the Marijuana Policy Project, which has gained the support of
liberal congressmen like Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who introduced House
Bill 1782 two years ago.

It would have allowed states to establish their own policies regarding
medicinal marijuana.

According to MPP Director of Government Relations Robert Kampia, "State
governments that want to make marijuana medicinally available have been
blocked by the federal government. ... State governments support changing
federal law. The American people support changing federal law. Soon we'll
see if states' rights advocates in Congress have the integrity to let
states create their own medicinal marijuana policies."

We question whether "integrity" was the right choice of words.

Given that doctors have drugs as safe and effective as marijuana - for all
the symptoms it is said to alleviate - and the dangers of smoking pot,
clearly our recommendation is to ban marijuana as a medicine. Because for
its proponents, unfortunately, that is merely the engine that pulls a very
long train.

Robert F. Stealey
Telegram Editorial Board chairman