MILLIONAIRES PUSH DRUG LEGALIZATION

The stoned voices screaming didn't bother me. Nor did the screeds laced
with curses. What bothered me were the sharp ones, 50 or so readers who
still missed Wednesday's point.

That column concerned Proposition 300, a ballot proposal funded by a few
drug-friendly millionaires. The dopers have sold this and related
propositions by claiming they want "medicalized" marijuana, prescriptions
for glaucoma sufferers and the seriously ill.

My opposition totals three words. That's a lie.

Proposition 300 is a Trojan horse -- a "no" vote would "medicalize" not
only pot, but 116 Schedule I drugs, including many familiar names the
millionaires have sued to keep off Arizona's ballot:

Heroin. LSD. Ecstasy. Mescaline. Peyote. Plus derivatives of PCP and meth.

Those drugs have gnawed at America's heart for decades. Those drugs the
millionaires want us to embrace, or at least accept. They talk about "harm
reduction" or "normalization" -- euphemisms for what they want but won't say.

Legalization.

Marijuana, yes I can't find words to tell you how wrong they are. I tried
Wednesday, and though 100-some readers understood, what lingers is the
smart ones who didn't.

Their counterarguments were three. "You're a damn barbarian" was most
popular. The gist: How dare I suggest denying marijuana to the deathly ill
or anyone in deep pain.

"My brother was born with a (genetic) problem in which smoking pot has
helped him control his pain for many years, and I can assure you he is not
a doper," wrote one e-mailer. "I think you should find out the whole
picture before you start criticizing people who may use it for real medical
reasons."

Listen carefully -- I agree. I'd never deprive a seriously ill person of a
joint if that joint could end his pain. That's why I think Arizona needs a
"medical marijuana" proposal on the ballot.

Too bad we have a "116 Schedule I drug" proposal instead.

An honest proposition would be easy to craft: Marijuana prescriptions, and
only marijuana prescriptions, for the seriously ill, once the Food and Drug
Administration OKs pot's effectiveness.

That version would obey federal law and not depend on anecdotes and junk
science. Such a proposition grows more practical by the day: Doctors in San
Francisco are conducting the first-ever government-sanctioned study of
marijuana therapy.

Getting a fix The millionaires have another agenda. One laced with heroin
and LSD.

Those drugs came up often, in sentences like the following, penned by
e-mailer "WSheik."

"Next, find me a doctor who will prescribe heroin, LSD or cocaine to his
patients? I think doctors might know better than to give a drug addict a fix."

You think wrong. In June, the health commissioner of Baltimore, Dr. Peter
Beilenson, proposed America's first "heroin maintenance" program -- free
fixes for his city's addicts. Support for the same idea in multiple cities
was all the rage at New York's Lindesmith Center, a drug think tank
bankrolled by "philanthropist" George Soros.

Don't recognize that name? Well, you've already met 400,000 of his dollars
in ads for Arizona's first drug-friendly initiative, Proposition 200 in 1996.

Incestuous, as ever. And suspicious.

But not as suspicious as the respondents who demanded: "How can you support
the failed war on drugs?"

Answer: I don't.

Some elements work, like drug courts, intense education and treatment
programs. Others I find unconscionable, such as mandatory minimum sentences.

And such as lying to people.

That, sadly, seems to be the strategy of the millionaires and their
mercenaries.

If you want prescribed marijuana, ask for it, and it alone. If you want
legalization, say so. But don't hide behind the sick or behind piles of cash.

In short, don't play the voters of Arizona for dopes.

David Leibowitz can be reached at 444-8515 or at david.leibowitz@pni.com
via e-mail. Catch his commentary at 4:35 p.m. Monday and Wednesday on
Channel 12 (KPNX)

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski