MARIJUANA PROPOSAL DOESN'T CONTAIN ENOUGH SAFEGUARDS

Proposal 1 on the statewide ballot in the Nov. 4 general election
would allow physician-approved use of marijuana by registered patients
with "debilitating medical conditions" such as glaucoma, cancer, HIV,
AIDS, hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions. The
Department of Community Health would be assigned to oversee this process.

Under the proposal, patients would get an ID card and would be allowed
to grow up to 12 plants from which to process their pot. The proposal
would "permit registered and unregistered patients and primary
caregivers to assert medical reasons for using marijuana as a defense
to any prosecution involving marijuana."

We urge voters to cast their ballots NO, not because we are
unsympathetic to those who are truly sick, but because the proposal
does not appear to have enough safeguards to keep this from becoming a
free-pot-smoking card for anyone who can find a sympathetic doctor.

Under this proposal, pot would not be prescribed in the typical sense.
When you get a prescription from a doctor for other drugs, he or she
determines how many doses you get, how often you are to take them, and
when your access to the drug ends. The doctor follows up to make sure
the drug is working, that you are getting the right amount, and that
there are no troublesome side effects.

Yes, doctors can allow for refills, but they decide how many. And for
chronic illnesses, the doctor can allow you to take the drug
indefinitely. But it is the doctor who decides how much, how often,
how long.

Under Prop 1, once you get a card, the individual patient grows his or
her own, processes his or her own, determines when to use it, how much
and how often. And there appears to be no end to how long one can use
the marijuana.

If this is really for medical use, it should have the same safeguards
as are put on the use of other drugs through the prescription system.

One only need look at California as an example of how this can go
wrong. Today in San Francisco, there are more medical marijuana
dispensaries than Starbucks coffeehouses.

CBS's "60 Minutes" has documented widespread abuse of the system,
including doctors willing to hand out permission to smoke pot to
patients for nearly any excuse. Even proponents of the original ballot
initiative there describe the situation as "chaos."

All that being said, this proposal shows what happens when Congress
and the state Legislature fail to address real issues.

Pain management is a true problem. And some medical experts say that
pot is the more effective form of treatment for some conditions. If a
doctor thinks a joint would be the best medicine for a patient in a
given situation, he or she should be able to give it.

But that means lawmakers would have to put in place regulations that
make the drug available, under the proper controls.

It should also be made available in an affordable fashion. Opponents
to Prop 1 point out that there are alternative drugs and methods
available those medical conditions. And there are.

But some are expensive, and not all of those who suffer chronic pain
have good insurance coverage. Opponents point to a drug known as
Marinol, an oral form of THC, which is the effective ingredient in
marijuana. So this would be a pill form of pot. Proponents point to
the price, $17 per pill.

So while we are not in favor of Proposal 1, we are in favor of the
Legislature making sure that viable pain management techniques --
perhaps even smokable marijuana -- are readily and affordably
available those who need them, under a well-regulated system that
assures abuse will be minimized.