JOSETTE SHINER VS. BONNIE ERBE: MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Bonnie Erbe is host of the PBS program "To the Contrary." Josette Shiner is
president of Empower America.

- -- QUESTION: This fall there are six states and the District of Columbia
with ballot initiatives seeking voter approval of raw marijuana for
unrestricted medical use. Should these initiatives be adopted?

JOSETTE SHINER: The nation's capital has joined Oregon, Nevada, Alaska,
Colorado, Arizona and Washington state on the front lines of the battle to
legalize hard drugs.

Marijuana cafes in the shadow of the Capitol dome? It's possible. Just look
what happened in California when voters approved a similar initiative.

The rationale behind these initiatives is compassion for the sick and
suffering. But already the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana -- THC
- -- is available in pill form under the name Marinol. In addition, research
efforts are under way to discover whether there are additional properties
within the plant that would have medical value.

Such scientific research is, and should be, widely supported. But the
movement and money behind these initiatives has shown little concern for
science. Drug legalization is their goal.

In California, where marijuana was legalized as medicine in 1996, the
dispensing of pot through a "primary care-giver" triggered the widespread
commercial sale of the narcotic in the famous cannabis buyers clubs. Dr.
Gary Cohan of Los Angeles, whose practice focuses on the treatment of AIDS,
put it this way: "If your doctor recommends marijuana as treatment, you've
got a lousy doctor."

What do we know about marijuana? We know it causes the same changes in
brain chemistry as heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine and alcohol. We
know that marijuana "primes" the brain for other drugs -- the "gateway
effect." We know marijuana impairs the skills related to attention, memory
and learning. And we know marijuana use among high school seniors has
increased 300 percent since 1992.

Joseph Califano, the secretary of health, education and welfare under
President Carter, opposed such initiatives saying: "Teens who smoke pot are
85 times likelier to use drugs such as cocaine than those who have never
done so."

Let's not offer snake oil to the sick, send the wrong message to children
and open the door to drug legalization -- especially in our nation's capital.

BONNIE ERBE: The war on drugs is the most wasteful big-government program
the federal and state governments have ever waged. And yet conservatives
love it. Talk about hypocrisy, especially when it comes to marijuana use
for those in medical need.

Would the anti-drug crowd rather see AIDS patients drink themselves into
incoherent stupors to ease the pain? Why don't those who rail against
marijuana use want to see a ban on alcohol sales or tobacco use? Those
drugs are infinitely more harmful to people than marijuana, and yet not a
peep from them in that respect.

Legalizing marijuana use for the sick seems the least we can do to assuage
the suffering of people with AIDS and cancer. Not only does it dull pain
without risk of addiction (as opposed to opiate-based substances), it also
stimulates appetite, something patients who are wasting away badly need.

Our prison population is the highest in the world. Recent Justice
Department compilations on the numbers of those in federal and state jails
total close to one point three million Americans. According to NORML (the
National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws), one-third of those
being sentenced to jail time are non-violent drug offenders.

The war on drugs has cost taxpayers more than $100 billion over the past
decade, including billions spent by state and local governments on
jail-building. We all know it costs more to send a young man to prison than
it does to send him to Harvard. Do we really want to spend precious
resources prosecuting not only the young and foolish who smoke pot, but
also the elderly, disabled and sick?

The fact is, if medical science had a good alternative to marijuana use for
AIDS and cancer patients, it would be out there and widely available. It
does not exist. That's why if voters in the District of Columbia and the
states vote to legalize marijuana for medical use next month, they're
making the right move.

Checked-by: Richard Lake