SIDES SPLIT OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Madison County Sheriff Robert Hertz inadvertently summed up the
bankruptcy of medical marijuana opponents' arguments ("Sides split
over medical marijuana bill," 5/31).

Hertz says, "I'm dead against it. What's next? Cocaine? Meth?" Could
he be unaware that both cocaine and methamphetamine are legal
medicines today?

That's right: Coke and meth are classed in Schedule II of the federal
Controlled Substances Act, allowing medical use. Cocaine is used
mainly in liquid form as a local anesthetic, while methamphetamine
pills are available by prescription. And no one seriously believes
that medical use has the slightest impact on abuse of either drug.

But right now, our laws treat coke and meth as less dangerous than
marijuana. Given marijuana's well-documented medical efficacy and
safety (fatal overdoses are literally impossible), that is simply insane.

Bruce Mirken

Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.