PROPOSAL 1 IS FLAWED, BUT WELL-INTENTIONED

Vague Language on Medical Marijuana

A proposal on the Nov. 4 Michigan ballot aims to help ease the pain
and suffering of people with some very real, hard-to-address medical
problems. Yet as it's constructed, the proposal is difficult to support.

Proposal 1, the medicinal marijuana initiative, seeks to allow
doctors to prescribe marijuana use for patients with certain medical
conditions without the fear of the patient or the doctor running
afoul of state law.

Marijuana has a long track record of relieving pain or side effects
for those being treated for cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and other
conditions. Undeniably, some of those patients believe that they can
find only find effective relief by using marijuana, and their doctors
may agree. There is a real need.

Yet this proposal includes language that is troublingly vague. For
example, "severe and persistent muscle spasms" is among the
permissible reasons to use the drug.

The proposal lacks adequate provisions for oversight on dosing. With
a prescription, for example, a doctor is able to make some
conclusions about the frequency of use before providing a refill.
Granting someone the ability to grow their own medicine, however,
completely removes that from oversight.

And we're also concerned about the message of using a cigarette to
deliver relief when so much public-health effort focuses on ending smoking.

We're comfortable with the attempts to provide other safeguards, such
as the requirement to register with the state and carry an ID card
that clearly identifies them.

And we're empathetic with the goal of easing pain or reducing nausea,
but this proposal seems like it was drafted more by the emotional
response to pain than by good science.

If this fails, we hope backers will reconsider another bid with a
more narrowly drafted proposal.