MEDICAL MARIJUANA NEEDS ANOTHER LOOK

Glad to read the Oct. 3 editorial on medical marijuana. Proposition
215 has impressed me as fatally flawed for a variety of reasons.
Politically, marijuana remains a Schedule I Narcotic as described in
the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and is not legal anywhere in the
United States. California laws cannot override federal laws and even
though this was not the explicit intention of Proposition 215, it does
put our state in opposition to the law of the land.

A second point concerns the medical efficacy of marijuana as a
painkiller. There is nothing even close to a consensus within the
medical community supporting the medical efficacy of marijuana. If I
were ill with a serious condition, the last strategy I would adopt
would be to flood my lungs with a toxic mixture of carcinogens and
carbon monoxide.

The concept of medical marijuana as a self-prescribed remedy for
self-diagnosed health problems is ludicrous. I have witnessed numerous
occasions where young people claiming to suffer from questionable ills
now possess, not prescriptions, but letters from dubious medical
practitioners supporting their need for this "natural" herbal remedy.
Legitimate medical marijuana, in the form of synthetic THC
(dronabinol), is available by prescription from reputable physicians
after a legitimate diagnosis of disease or injury.

The recent spate of criminal activities related to home-grown
marijuana provides clear testimony that Proposition 215 is a failed
policy endangering both the Advertisement Click Here! marijuana
growers and their neighbors. It is time to reform or rescind this
legislation.

Roland Lamarine

Chico