MARIJUANA AS A DRUG?

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 ... 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 with the drug, 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. ...