MEDICAL SCIENCE DOESN'T BACK MARIJUANA

Re: FDA puts politics before science, editorial, April 24.

It doesn't surprise me that instead of the FDA, the St. Petersburg
Times has put politics before science as it manages to turn yet
another issue into a Bush bash.

The medicinal efficacy or lack thereof of marijuana has nothing to do
with the president of the United States. Still, he is being blamed for
the FDA rightfully declaring that "no sound scientific studies"
support the medical use of smoked marijuana. It is interesting,
however, that the article seeks to criticize the Bush administration
while at the same time discredit the FDA's position.

Drug legalization advocates often misquote the 1999 Institute of
Medicine review that reveals, while the THC in marijuana has medicinal
value, there is "little future in smoked marijuana" as a medicine
because of its harmful nature. The THC (the major intoxicating
ingredient in marijuana) has already received FDA approval and is
prescribed and marketed as a drug known as Marinol. This is very
different from smoking a weed that contains many very harmful
ingredients, some of which are cancer-causing and suppress the immune
system.

As a leading international drug policy expert, I can assure you that
every major medical association rejects marijuana as a so-called
medicine. As much as I would like to give credit to Bush for the FDA's
findings, I cannot because modern medicine relies on proven scientific
research, not politics.

Calvina L. Fay, executive director, Drug Free America Foundation,
Inc., St. Petersburg