DON'T FALL FOR 'SNAKE OIL' MARIJUANA PITCH

To the editor:

The Eagle-Tribune's Jan. 12 editorial recommending a careful review
of the marijuana bill gives good advice.

In fact, I would go further and recommend that this bill be shredded!

The suggestion that smoking a noxious weed that has been declared
dangerous to mental health by 13 major mental health agencies, causes
accidents, school dropouts and myriad other problems, is linked to
increased risk schizophrenia by four nations, makes one wonder what
the bill sponsors were smoking! What most voters don't know is that
there is a well-organized, well-financed movement of drug legalizers
who are pushing these types of bills across the country. The oldest
of these groups is the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws (NORML). In 1979, NORML founder Keith Stroup promised
to get marijuana legalized through medicalization. In 1993, one of
their colleagues told attendees at a NORML conference, "In
approximately 10 to 12 years, when the marijuana-using population
encompasses a large chunk of the total adult population and becomes
politically influential, the removal of criminal penalties for
possession of marijuana will become a reality."

Frankly, those of us who were diligently working to close drug
paraphernalia shops and teach parents prevention didn't believe them;
however, we didn't expect that two aging billionaires would be
convinced to fund this dangerous effort. Today, currency trader
George Soros and Progressive Insurance founder Peter Lewis have
poured an estimated $40 million into funding the movement. Other
organizations involved include the Marijuana Policy Project, Drug
Policy Alliance and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). SSDP is
working on college campuses to recruit young people to their
movement. Citizens also need to ask themselves, "Do I want medicines
approved by popular vote of elected citizens - the majority who
likely have no medical research training?"

That's how Laetrile was approved as a cancer treatment.

It proved to be a worthless potion of ground apricot seeds and
probably delayed some folks from getting legitimate treatment!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was established to prevent this
type of "snake oil" medicine.

FDA only approves medicines that are proven, through aggressive
research, to be both safe and effective.

Smoked marijuana does not meet that standard.

Research is ongoing to determine if any of the 421 different
components have medical value.

One of them, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), has shown some promise and
is already available by prescription under the trade name Marinol
(C). However, doctors tell us there are at least 15 other
well-researched, approved pharmaceuticals that are far superior.

I served as president of Nancy Reagan's National Federation of
Parents during the Reagan administration and co-sponsored the bill
that closed Maryland's drug paraphernalia shops.

Assisted by thousands of parents and citizens like actress Carol
Burnett, Marriott Hotel owner Bill Marriott and others, the shops
were closed nationwide.