LEGALIZATION POINTS MISSED

I suggest a simpler law that would get back to basics. Educational
institutions should require their students to do their homework before
they write editorials.

The points missed in this case include the following:

1) The U.S. federal government already distributes marijuana as a
medicine to a number of people. They do that because some of those
patients went to court and proved to a legal certainty that marijuana
is the only medicine suitable for their needs.

2) Statements about there not being enough research are signs of
abject ignorance. Every major government commission report on drug
policy in the last 100 years has concluded that the marijuana laws
were based on racism, ignorance and nonsense. They all said the laws
should have been repealed long ago because they do more harm than
good. You can read them at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer under Major
Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy.

3) The AMA takes the stance it does primarily because doctors have
learned not to cross the federal government on issues of reefer
madness. This policy started in 1925 when doctors were systematically
attacked for prescribing opiates - after the Federal Bureau of
Narcotics had lost a major Supreme Court case saying it had no
business interfering in the practice of medicine. (See
http://druglibrary.org/special/king/king1/htm ) In more recent years,
it has sought to pull the medical licenses of doctors who even discuss
pot with their patients.

4) Marijuana is in Schedule I, but the primary active ingredient is in
Schedule III. How does that make sense?

5) The problem is not that the research has not been well publicized.
The major government commission reports have been on the Internet for
more than 10 years, with a dedicated team of people bringing these to
the attention of public officials. The problem is deliberate ignorance
- - the people who support marijuana prohibition flatly refuse to read.
Test it yourself. Tell some of these drug warriors about the major
studies on the Internet. They will give you every excuse in the world
why they won't read - but they just won't read. The problem is really
bigotry.

Clifford A. Schaffer

Director, Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

Agua Dulce, Calif.