SOBER REFLECTION IS IN ORDER

Let's rethink the rush to make marijuana a legal medicine.

We live in a time that merits a new edition of Extraordinary Popular
Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay's classic 1841
study of human follies and frenzies, including witch hunts, alchemy,
and bursting financial bubbles. One delusion now in full bloom is the
movement to legalize medical marijuana, which is proceeding apace
without significant care or consideration on the part of the
government, the medical and scientific community, or the public.

With California leading, 14 states have legalized medical marijuana,
and 11 others are considering doing so. New Jersey's governor and
lawmakers recently wrangled over implementation of its new
medical-marijuana law, while Philadelphia's current and former
district attorneys argued about a push to lessen penalties for possession.

This rampaging weed of a public policy seems eerily immune to the
kind of scientific testing and review routinely accorded to the
regulation of food and medicine. You might think marijuana -
classified as a federal Schedule I drug, or one with a high potential
for abuse and "no currently accepted medical use" - would get
special scrutiny before it's approved as medicine. You would be wrong.

On this issue, the public and policymakers have thrown caution to the
smoke-filled winds. California's medical-marijuana laws are a
hodgepodge, changing from county to county like something dreamed up
by Cheech and Chong. Today there are reportedly about 600 marijuana
dispensaries in Los Angeles alone.

Far from being clinical, some feature carnivalesque hucksters who
stand outside and lure in new clients. And pretty much anyone
claiming a headache can get a prescription.

As a horticulturist, I worry that these patients are using a
garden-grown substance whose dangers are greater than its benefits.
They are the subjects of a loopy social-policy experiment.

I do not propose denying medical marijuana to those in chronic pain
from cancer, AIDS, or other ailments. Marijuana's value as a pain
reliever, as well as its overall safety, deserves investigation. The
American Medical Association has sensibly urged the federal
government to loosen restrictions that impede serious research. But
right now, the scientific findings are far from conclusive.

Yet the same people who want their food grown organically and
sustainably - and who flee from corn syrup, butter, and salt as from
a plague - blithely ignore pot's provenance. They seem indifferent
not only to where it comes from, but to who sows and grows it, and
what manner of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and growth
stimulants are used.

Today's pot is far stronger than the weed that gave young boomers a
buzz. Those seeking pain relief from a few puffs of marijuana can
experience anxiety, panic, and hallucinations. Some help!

While there is limited evidence to support marijuana's medical
benefits, there is plenty confirming its dangers, substantiated by
significant increases in mentions of marijuana as a reason for
emergency room visits over the last 15 years. And pot messes with
your head, impairing short-term memory, verbal skill, judgment, and
perception. Anyone who's talked to a pothead will testify to that.

Pot-using teenagers have poorer grades and poorer attendance. One
study found that among those arrested, 41 percent of men and 27
percent of women tested positive for marijuana use. Another found
that 6 to 11 percent of fatal-accident victims tested positive for
it - a painkiller indeed.

Since pot's potency can vary dramatically, patients have no
guidelines for dosage, so you might say it's hit or miss. This and
many of marijuana's other perils can be effectively addressed by
Marinol, an approved prescription medicine that offers calibrated
doses of a synthetic version of pot's key ingredient, THC.

Medical marijuana deserves serious attention from the Obama
administration, Congress, the FDA, and the AMA. What are they waiting
for? Unchecked, this latest extraordinary popular delusion will have
serious social and medical consequences.

George Ball is a past president of the American Horticultural Society
and the chairman of W. Atlee Burpee & Co. in Warminster.