REEFER MADNESS: PROPOSED STATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW IS A RECIPE FOR
DISASTER

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Out-of-control marijuana
sales authorized by state lawmakers - key among them Assemblyman
Richard Gottfried and state Sen. Tom Duane.

These two have engineered a supposed medical marijuana law that
would, in fact, be a license for legalized pot-dealing, potentially
in thousands of storefronts across the city.

Under their bill, even podiatrists and midwives could prescribe dope
to practically any patient with virtually any health complaint - who
would then be able to stop by the local storefront joint joint
without fear of arrest.

The evils of this scheme are blatantly obvious from the nightmare
that unfolded in Los Angeles after passage of California's medical
marijuana law in 1996.

That city now has upward of 700 pot shops - outnumbering even
Starbucks locations.

The "patients" are overwhelmingly males ranging from their teens to
late 20s - not exactly the seriously ill demographic.

And testing has shown that practically all of the dope originated
with violent Mexican gangs and often is laced with pesticides.

"I think about the Mexican drug cartels hooting all the way to the
bank as we silly Americans bankroll them," says assistant Los Angeles
city attorney Jane Usher.

Told of the terms that Duane and Gottfried have written into their
bill, Usher said:

"I'm as concerned for your residents as I am for ours about the
implications of this insufficiently regulated model."

Look at who could get marijuana under this Cheech and Chong plan:
Anyone with a "severe debilitating or life-threatening condition" and
their associated complications and symptoms. While that sounds
restrictive, it opens potential loopholes not found in the law
recently passed by New Jersey.

That statute limits availability to people with certain specified
diseases, such as AIDS, cancer and Lou Gehrig's disease.

Look who can dispense the stuff: Any medical "practitioner," a
category that includes chiropractors and nurses.

In New Jersey, only medical doctors can recommend marijuana, and only
in a genuine physician-patient relationship.

Look at where Duane and Gottfried would allow pot shops to open:
Anywhere, with no limit on the number of locations.

Los Angeles is imposing a 70-store cap, and ordering them away from
schools and playgrounds.

The New York bill fails to demand criminal background checks on
operators, fails to say where they could get merchandise, and fails
to give City Hall any say-so over how they operate.

Despite these glaring flaws, Duane and Gottfried, chairmen of their
respective health committees, have teed up the bill for passage. The
Assembly has twice okayed similar measures, and Deputy Senate
Majority Leader Jeff Klein of the Bronx predicts this one will be
included in, of all places, the budget bill. The idea is that dope
shop fees would bring in $15 million a year.

There is a right way and a wrong way to approach medical marijuana.
The right way would be to strictly limit those who could prescribe
it, the conditions permitting prescriptions and the number of
distribution locations. Say one per borough in a major health care
facility.

The wrong way is the Duane-Gottfried way. This is madness. You know
what kind.