SAFETY FOREMOST IN MARIJUANA LAW

While the medical benefits of marijuana are debatable, it is probably
not reasonable to deny someone who is chronically ill its pleasures.
However, public safety has to trump individual rights. As such, any
"medical marijuana" statutes must have certain provisions to avoid
its abuse. These must include at least the following:

1) The state must operate the program, with distribution coming only
through that program.

2) Anyone admitted to such a program must be considered unfit for
employment and unfit to operate a motor vehicle. As such, anyone in
this program must surrender his/her driver's license.

3) The state must have the mandate to do drug testing on any driver
involved in a motor vehicle accident, done under established
government guidelines, with "refusal to test" being treated the same
as a "positive" result, with automatic driver's license suspension,
and an appropriate jail sentence. For those injured or unconscious,
submission to the test is to be assumed. Likewise, drug testing must
be allowed for anyone stopped for any moving traffic violation, under
the same rules.

4) As under federal rules, "passive exposure" or "spousal use" are
never to be considered as acceptable reasons for a "positive" result.

DAVID CLOSE, M.D.