POT INITIATIVE UP IN SMOKE

Oct. 20 - The off-again-on-again adventures of the proposed
medical-marijuana initiative may be nearing an end. Although the measure
will still appear on most Colorado ballots as Amendment 19, Secretary of
State Victoria Buckley has ruled that supporters' petitions fell 2,338
signatures short of the required 54,242. As a result, unless there's a new
twist in the courts, whatever votes are cast on the measure simply won't be
tallied.

We're relieved.

Although there is surely a compassionate need for more effective therapy for
those suffering the effects of cancer chemotherapy, AIDS and glaucoma, the
initiative proposed for passage in Colorado offered the wrong solution.

First, the actual benefits are suspect.

There is no conclusive evidence that smoked marijuana is any more effective
than the prescription drug Marinol, which contains synthetic THC, the active
ingredient in marijuana that is known to relieve nausea and induce weight
gain. But there's evidence aplenty that smoked marijuana, which contains
over 400 chemicals, can cause a host of ills and may, indeed, aggravate
illnesses.

The initiative made no provision for quality control.

Second, the initiative had frightening law-enforcement implications. It
would, essentially, permit patients to purchase marijuana on the existing
illegal market, but to be immune from prosecution for possession. The notion
of thus legalizing selected illegal purchases is absurd.

In addition to failing to provide a legal source for the drug, the
initiative was filled with loopholes.

The list of illnesses it could be construed to cover was virtually endless.

The right to possess the drug included not just patients but any "primary
caregiver'' over the age of 18. And, opponents say, the required
health-department certification could be based, merely, on presentation of
"pertinent medical records'' - sidestepping the need for a formal, written,
physician's prescription.

Like the American Medical Association, we support additional, aggressive
studies of the medical applications of marijuana.

But even if research does eventually reveal benefits, a controlled source of
a safe drug is also essential.

The Colorado initiative just didn't have it. And constitutions aren't the
place to make medical policy.

Checked-by: Don Beck