Initiative 692

STATE WILL REALLY GO TO POT

Initiative 692 appears to be a plan that national pot promoters are trying
to pull off. No doctor is going to "recommend" a drug. If they think it is
the best medication for you, they will write a prescription. On the other
hand, they may recommend that you wash your hands after going to the toilet,
but they will not write a prescription.

Marijuana is a plant; therefore, like any plant, the chemical content will
vary with where it was grown and what has fallen or been sprayed on it.
Thus, a physician wouldn't know how much drug the patient would be getting,
nor the other chemicals in the plant. So, he or she will prescribe a drug -
a known entity.

Marinol, apparently, is the trade name for a chemical in marijuana that has
been shown, under FDA regulations, to be safe and efficacious for the
purpose for which it is labeled. Marinol, I uderstand, is so "touchy" that
some physicians will give the first couple of doses either in their office
or in the hospital, where they can observe the patient.

Finally, I don't understand how the state expects to overturn -or duck
around-federal law. Marijuana, I believe, is a controlled substance under
federal authorities. The state attorney general will have to show the
federal government that the stuff is not a burden on interstate commerce, in
which case the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Washington will then have to come
up with its own regulatory budget - called taxes. If Initiative 692 passes,
Washington state will really go to pot.

Don Johnson, Lake Stevens

Checked-by: Don Beck