WAR ON DRUGS RAGES

If there's one leftover problem from the 70's that's still making
headlines in today's newspapers, it's the so-called War on Drugs. The
misinformation and unwarranted fear of dangerous and not-so-dangerous
drugs still permeate television, magazines, blogs and other forms of
media.

This is not to say that there isn't hard, scientific evidence that
crack cocaine and heroin can create an addiction or kill the user on
the first use. But there are quite a few missing angles in this War on
Drugs, and if you happen to read the Dayton Daily News, then you may
have stumbled upon evidence of this.

Recently, use of a kind of synthetic marijuana called K-2 has risen in
several states, prompting lawmakers to take notice and propose a ban
on possessing or selling this substance.

K-2, for those unfamiliar with it, is sold as incense in small corner
grocery stores. When smoked, the effects are similar to those of
smoking marijuana. According to a health official mentioned in the
Dayton Daily News, there are additional dangerous side effects such as
elevated heart rate and nausea.

What my study of the War on Drugs has taught me is to pay close
attention to which substances are given a penalty for possession and
or distribution, why the person using and or possessing them is being
penalized and how the substance is dangerous.

It also is important to consider the political and economic
circumstances that influence the legal status of a substance.
Prescription drug companies, which legally produce and distribute
drugs that often have several harmful side effects, make huge,
legitimized profits and channel much of that money into campaign
contributions to influence the politicians that regulate their industry.

Seriously, have you listened closely to all the prescription drug ads
with narrators racing through the list of side effects so fast you can
hardly understand, or read the fine print in a magazine ad? I dare you
to read a handful of ads without being boggled by the list of
side-effects of one drug.

Legal drugs prescribed by a doctor should be much scarier than the
notorious natural plant products dried, ground, and smoked in a joint
or pipe.

Either there are some odd standards being upheld at the Food and Drug
Administration and Drug Enforcement Agency or someone is looking the
other way. Just for starters, there are plenty of burgeoning medical
studies showing that patients with life-threatening illnesses and
depression fare much better when treated with medical marijuana than
with conventional drugs.There is plenty of further work to be done to
study the effects of
marijuana, but it is a slow process because the government's Schedule
I classification of marijuana inhibits researchers in studying its
medical uses.

I'd like to ask this question of one of these state representatives
pushing for a ban on K-2, though it could be directed at any public
official who is dealing with drug policy: How and why are you treating
marijuana and similar substances differently than drugs one receives
from a licensed physician?