Those Who Really Need Marijuana

In her Oct.30 editorial page commentary "Medical Marijuana: Research, Don't
Legalize," Dr. Sally Satel implicitly asks for a moratorium on medical
marijuana initiatives until sufficient research has been done on the drug in
"a carefully controlled, scientific setting. While proponents of medical
marijuana certainly encourage scientific study of cannabis, the reason
ballot initiatives were used to legalize the use of medical marijuana in
Arizona and California in 1996 (several others are pending) is precisely
because the federal government has not permitted any human studies in more
than 15 years.

Meanwhile, there certainty has not been a moratorium on imprisoning medical
marijuana users. In Oklahoma last year arthritis sufferer Will Foster
received a 93 year sentence on a first offense for growing his own supply of
medical marijuana. In Merced, Calif., Mike Oshorn currently faces 13 years
for growing marijuana for seven AIDS and cancer patients. In Seattle,
medical user Martin Martinez began serving a 90 day sentence for growing
marijuana on the very day Dr. Satel's opinion piece was printed. Thousands
of other examples could be cited.

Dr. Satel writes, "And make no mistake: These initiatives . . are stalking
horses for outright legalization," and then decries the fact that a doctor's
"oral recommendation" rather than a prescription would be all that's needed
to authorize medical marijuana use should the upcoming Washington, D.C.,
initiative pass. As a doctor, she certainly must be aware that a
prescription cannot be written for a Schedule I drug it would have no
legal validity. Also, the "oral recommendation" she decries may be verified
by law enforcement. It's not the normal route, but it certainly is a
legitimate attempt to make the best out of a sticky legal situation in which
cannabis remains illegal on the federal level, but has been legalized for
medical use on the state level, as in California.

People like me certainly are fighting for the general legalization of
marijuana for adult use, but it's depressing to me that Dr. Satel thinks
that we would hide behind wheelchairs to achieve our goals. It was
legalizers, after all, who rediscovered and promoted cannabis as medicine,
because we recognized the healing capacity of the herb and wanted those who
might benefit to be aware of its medicinal potential. And that potential may
be greater than most people, even proponents, recognize. "In my view as a
doctor," suggests Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard, "I believe that this drug
is ultimately going to he seen as a wonder drug on the order of penicillin,
because of its inexpensive cost, its versatility and its extremely low
toxicity.'

If Dr. Satel would call for a moratorium on arresting and imprisoning
medical marijuana users while scientists perform the studies she calls for,
I'm sure both outright legalizers and medical-marijuana-only proponents
would gladly call a moratorium on ballot initiatives.

PETER GORMAN,

Editor-in-Chief,
High Times Magazine
New York

Contrary to Dr. Satel's argument, California's Prop 215 is hardly a stalking
horse for legalization. Unless you have a doctor's recommendation for a
serious illness, marijuana remains very much illegal in California. Only
about 13,000 of California's fivemillionplus marijuana users are
currently qualified as medical patients under Prop. 215. Arrests and
convictions for marijuana have continued unabated since Prop. 215.

Before impugning the motives of those of us who organized Prop. 215, Dr.
Satel should step down from her, ivory tower behind the Beltway and consider
the victims. Consider, Will Foster, 38, torn from his wife and children to
serve 93 years in prison for growing his pot to treat his crippling
rheumatoid arthritis.

Those of us who proposed Prop. 215 did so for one overriding reason:
seriously ill patients who needed marijuana for medicine were being
arrested, criminalized, and denied treatment. If, as Ms. Satel admits, there
is good reason to believe that marijuana has medical value, what is the
"scientifically sound" basis for punishing them while they await the tardy
approval of risk averse FDA bureaucrats?

DALE H. GIERINGER
CoDirector, Friends of 215
State Coordinator, California NORML, San Francisco