MEDICAL MARIJUANA STALEMATE A DISGRACE

WHEN the voters of California approved an initiative to OK the use of
marijuana for medicinal purposes, that is precisely what they had in mind.

They were not giving the go-ahead to recreational use of the weed. They
were not supporting the tired antics of arrogant, confirmed potheads who
make a mockery of the very people the measure was intended for.

Dennis Peron, one of the guiding lights behind Proposition 215, has done
more to hurt his own cause than perhaps anyone else in the state. Peron and
others involved with his no-holds-barred cannabis club of San Francisco
have succeeded in severely damaging the credibility of the movement to
legalize the use of marijuana for the desperately ill.

It has gotten to the point now where government authorities have almost no
choice but to shut down such organizations because of their behavior.

That is extremely unfortunate. There is increasing evidence that marijuana
does indeed alleviate many of the worst symptoms of certain forms of
multiple sclerosis, cancer, AIDS and certain other debilitating diseases.

Amazingly, though, there is not one completed scientific study on the
medicinal values of marijuana. Last year, the state Legislature approved $1
million to fund a UC Berkeley study on the medicinal effects of marijuana,
but results are many months, perhaps years, away.

San Mateo County, for one, is in the process of preparing a proposal for
the federal government to learn, once and for all, what the medically
beneficial effects of pot actually are.

In a way, in fact, the situation is scandalous. Literally millions of
Americans could receive some relief of nagging symptoms and side-effects if
marijuana were made available to them.

To us, the hypocritical handling of the marijuana issue in Washington,
D.C., has done far more harm than good. The irrational cloud hanging over
the drug makes no sense.

Why should marijuana be treated differently than, say, heroin when that
controlled substance is used as morphine to reduce severe pain? It's a
simple matter of pharmacological efficacy.

Yes, go ahead and require a prescription for marijuana. That's only right
and proper. We do not advocate the indiscriminate use of the drug. Not at
all.

Perhaps we need to head back to the ballot box. Maybe what's needed is
another initiative, clearly worded and tightly constructed, to close any
loopholes in Proposition 215.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful and Attorney General Dan Lungren contends the
issue of distribution is not addressed in the ballot measure, saying the
way cannabis clubs obtained marijuana was illegal.

But we think even a future ballot measure on this has a great risk of
failing. The images of Peron's cannabis club members smoking away as if the
Grateful Dead were performing may taint this issue down the road.

The current cannabis stalemate in California is harmful. Sick people who
can be helped by the drug can't obtain it legally. We've got to change
that, and change it soon.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)