PUT RIGHT ISSUES ON THE FRONT BURNER

Let's get this straight. It's OK to annoy, at the least, nonsmokers
with secondhand smoke on publicly owned property, but how dare you
take a puff of pot in the privacy of your home to ease the pain of
dying?

That's the message we seem to be getting from County Supervisor Jeff
Stone.

Three weeks ago, the former Temecula mayor proposed that Riverside
County join San Diego and San Bernardino counties in wasting public
money and the time of judges and government attorneys with their
attempt to overturn the passage of Proposition 215 ---- the
Compassionate Use Act ---- which allows the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes.

Then, just last week, in the wake of the California Air Resources
Board classifying secondhand smoke as a toxic air pollutant, Stone
came out against banning smoking in public parks and outdoor
facilities. In his words, "We have large parks. And if somebody is
smoking and you don't like it, you know what? You can go and sit on a
different bench."

Too which one is tempted to add: You know what? If somebody is smoking
pot for medicinal purposes in their home and you don't like it, don't
go there.

In conversations over the years, rarely has it been expressed that the
medical use of marijuana should be banned. Most people have exhibited
a kind of ho-hum reaction to the topic, saying that the government
surely must have more important things to pursue.

The point is medical marijuana should be a non-issue. The voters
approved it and studies from prestigious institutions such as Harvard
and Johns Hopkins debunk the myths surrounding its addictive powers
and toxicity. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year as a
direct result of using alcohol and tobacco, yet deaths directly caused
by marijuana use generally are considered to be almost nonexistent. It
even fails to rank very high as a contributor to fatal auto accidents
and, then, it most often is accompanied by the presence of alcohol.

Interestingly, in a 1988 ruling that marijuana should be reclassified
to allow medicinal use, Drug Enforcement Administration Judge Francis
Young concluded that "In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer
than many foods O For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a
toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat
enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one
of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any
measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the
supervised routine of medical care."

And addressing the broader issue of decriminalization in 1972,
President Nixon's Shafer Commission recommended Congress and state
legislatures decriminalize the use and casual distribution of
marijuana for personal use.

If the past is prelude, Stone will be a vigorous and effective
representative for Southwest County. But, with all that needs his
attention, the time spent trying to overturn Proposition 215 could be
put to much better use.

Temecula resident Phil Strickland is a regular columnist for The
Californian.