From The Statehouse

CARCIERI WAY OFF ON POT FACTS

If the state House of Representatives joins the state Senate and
overturns the governor's veto of medical marijuana legislation it
will represent a triumph of compassion and reason over indifference
and ignorance.

When Gov. Donald L. Carceiri vetoed the measure - overwhelmingly
approved in both legislative chambers - he cited a host of reasons,
including the following, some of which left people scratching their heads.

- - "Marijuana is an addictive narcotic." C'mon, that sounds like
something out of the 1960s, when ignorance of marijuana had paranoid
people comparing it to heroin. That ludicrous idea sent those smoking
pot into gales of laughter and had the side effect of negating those
spouting such tripe of any shred of credibility. I have never known
anyone - and I've known plenty of people who smoked pot regularly for
years - who became "addicted" to marijuana. Most of those I knew from
my younger days have long since moved on to legal - and probably more
addictive - highs of liquor.

- - "This bill will increase the availability of marijuana on the
streets of our state." The governor must be referring to the fact
that approved patients who, it must be stressed, suffer from very
serious maladies, and their caretakers will be allowed to grow up to
12 marijuana plants for the patient's use. Growing marijuana isn't
easy, so I would guess that most approved patients will buy their pot
from admittedly illicit sources.

I'm not sure how that will increase the availability of marijuana "on
the streets of our state." (Oddly enough, in the next sentence the
governor says, "Marijuana is already the most widely available and
commonly abused illicit drug in Rhode Island.")

- - "Children who smoke marijuana are more likely to commit suicide, do
poorly in school, join gangs and engage in other problematic
behavior." Wow! I'm going to have to rent "Reefer Madness" again to
see if the governor cribbed those lines directly from the movie.
Issues of potential plagiarism aside, the pot isn't for children,
although those who suffer from any of the severely debilitating
diseases could qualify if a parent administers the pot.

It's mostly for adults. And if you start in on the argument that kids
will have access to it if a parent has it, don't they already have
access to any liquor or prescription drugs (which are far more
dangerous and addictive than pot will ever be) already present in
their parents' house? We trust the parent to keep those substances
from their children. Why can't we trust them to keep the pot from them, too?

- - "Nearly anyone would be allowed to grow marijuana in nearly any
private location in the state." Approved patients and their approved
caretakers may grow pot, but only in their own homes. How that will
transfer into "nearly everyone" and "in any private location in the
state" is beyond me.

- - The governor claims the definition of who is eligible is so broad
that it will lead to abuse. He cited a similarly broad definition in
Oregon's law, and claims there are a total of 14,154 people legally
using medical marijuana there. Oregon has a population of 3,521,515.
That means that less than one-half of one percent of Oregonians has
qualified under this "broad definition." In Rhode Island that would
amount to 4,300 people. Holy epidemic, Batman!

- - Here's the kicker: According to Carcieri, the debate about the
effectiveness of medical marijuana rages on, and "well designed
studies have not been performed or are inconclusive on the
effectiveness of smoking marijuana plants over taking THC (one of
many natural substances in pot)." I guess the governor is talking
about well-designed studies like those performed on the recently
recalled Vioxx.

The 2001 Nursing Drug Handbook does list what the FDA found out about
Vioxx. Possible adverse reactions included: headache, asthenia,
fatigue, dizziness, hypertension, lower-extremity edema, sinusitis,
diarrhea, dyspepsia, epigastric discomfort, heartburn, nausea,
abdominal pain, urinary tract infection, back pain, bronchitis, upper
respiratory tract infection and flu-like syndrome. But other than
that, it was all right. Oops, I guess those "well-designed studies"
missed the part about increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

The bottom line is that nearly every legal prescription drug carries
warnings about possible impacts or reactions. The worst thing
opponents of medical marijuana can say about pot is that there is no
evidence of possible long-term impacts.

And, as supporters said last week, there is a smidgen of hypocrisy in
the governor's philosophical position on the issue. He claims smoking
marijuana still would be against federal law and it was not fair to
put state police officers in a compromising position between
contradictory state and federal laws. But last year Carceiri signed a
bill that would allow Rhode Islanders to purchase cheaper
prescription drugs in Canada, despite a federal law prohibiting the practice.

I would just echo Sen. Michael J. Damiani, D-East Providence. A
retired police officer, Damiani spoke eloquently about the issue on
the Senate floor. "If we can do anything to alleviate the pain or
increase the appetite of someone ... let's do it. I have never seen
anyone die of a marijuana overdose."