MARIJUANA ISSUE NOT A VOTING PROPOSITION

Whether to call a substance "medicine" is not the role of the Illinois
General Assembly - or any other legislature, for that matter. What in
the world do our politicians really know about the efficacy of
substances? Not much, I'm willing to bet. So, their current debates
about whether to legalize "medical marijuana" amount to little more
than political arrogance.

In this nation, we don't take popular votes to determine what is and
is not medicine. And no hospital or reputable medical association -
including the American Medical Association in Chicago and the American
Academy of Pediatrics in Elk Grove Village - recommends that people
smoke anything as a part of responsible medical treatment.

Let's wait for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has
decades of experience monitoring the development of medication, to do
its job.

A medication called Sativex is an oral spray composed of two compounds
found in marijuana. It's already available in Canada and parts of
Europe and is undergoing final testing for approval here in the United
States. When this medicine is available, there certainly won't be any
need for "medical marijuana."

Catherine Coonrod

Carlinville