PRO-MARIJUANA GROUP SEEKS DIFFERENT STANDARDS FOR LESS-HARMFUL DRUGS

A pro-cannabis group stopped on the North Coast Monday during a
three-week tour promoting a somewhat controversial but now 25-year-old
message.

All drugs should be weighed according to the same standards and
evaluated on a level playing field, said Sandee Burbank, executive
director and co-founder of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse, or MAMA.
That requires retooling the "illogical, draconian drug policy that
threatens our families' health and well-being," and instead relying on
"personal responsibility and informed decision-making," according to
the group.

"Even though we're talking about cannabis here, what we're really
doing is introducing people to the fact that it doesn't really matter
what drug you're taking. A drug is a drug is a drug, and all drugs can
have dangerous side effects," said Burbank. "What works for one person
may not work for another person. It's about personal responsibility
and informed decision making, always keeping in mind respect for human
dignity and our differences."

The federal government does not recognize any legitimate use of
marijuana, but about a dozen states, including Oregon, have
decriminalized it for some medicinal purposes.

Of 17,000 people benefiting from Oregon's almost 10-year-old Medical
Marijuana Program, the average age is 50, according to MAMA. The
latest figures from the state program show 14,868 registered patients.
That includes 146 people with medical marijuana cards in Clatsop County.

But the drug remains controversial, partly because of the financial
sway held by the pharmaceutical industry, said Burbank. Marijuana has
always been subject to widespread use, recreational or medical, legal
or not, she said. "Since 1982, it was reported a third of the adult
population regularly uses cannabis. That hasn't changed." She worries
about those who support "prohibition."

"When we make drugs illegal, it's very hard to talk to people about
the negative consequences or what can be done," she said. "I would
like to see this go from a punishment modality to a medicine-based
modality," with a "policy based on reason, where we provide the
individual the tools they need to make good decisions regarding all
risky behavior. .. We could evaluate all drugs using the same
standards then figure out how we can regulate and control those drugs."

In that case, compared to tobacco, alcohol and some prescription
drugs, marijuana's benefits might outweigh any social consequences,
she said. However, problems persist for patients in the program,
mostly involving public perception. Often, marijuana cardholders run
into those problems at work.

A North Coast daycare provider who declined to disclose her name
attended the Monday presentation. She said she hoped to apply for a
county job and met all the requirements for skills and experience, "
but I think my Oregon medical marijuana card status would probably
toss me right back out."

She registered for medical marijuana after deciding it provided the
most relief of migraine headaches and severe menstrual pain. To be
eligible for Oregon's program, patients must suffer "debilitating
medical conditions," such as cancer, glaucoma, or HIV, or other
conditions causing severe pain or nausea, seizures or persistent
muscle spasms.

The daycare provider said she avoids smoke toxins by using a
vaporizer. In addition, she said, "In a couple of hours, I'm going to
be just who I was before," rather than experiencing grogginess
sometimes caused by other medications.

"I'm hoping in the next few years we can get in place some sort of
standardized impairment test," she said. Then, "I could prove I'm not
impaired at work, just because you can test it in my blood or urine.
I'd like to change the face of this any way that I could."

Burbank said impairment testing based on reaction time or other motor
and mental indicators isn't likely to be implemented, but she would
support it.

"Impairment testing needs to be about impairment and not what your
body contains," she said. "A person who used cannabis ... can sleep
during the night, wake up and be refreshed. They're not going to be
impaired at all, but they're going to test positive." In addition, she
said, prescription drugs cause impairment, and "we now know
prescription drugs cause more deaths than alcohol."

But she acknowledged that cannabis is not free of problems.

"You need to be educated about cannabis as well; it can interact with
other medicines you're taking," she said. "But we've had the
opportunity now to teach people who use cannabis medically. ... There
are more and more people who don't smoke it."

Just two community members attended the presentation, which was held
in a room reserved at the Cannery Cafe with four people representing
the Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse tour.

Founded in 1982, MAMA will conclude its anniversary circuit Oct. 20 in
Portland at a conference with speakers on industrial hemp and
"sustainable hemp options," current and retired doctors, a retired law
enforcement officer, patients in Oregon's program and one in a handful
authorized to use medical cannabis through the federal Compassionate
Investigational New Drug program, which is now closed to new patients.