Rave Radio: Offline (0/0)
Email: Password:
News (Media Awareness Project) - US NY: Editorial: When Medical Marijuana Is Misused
Title:US NY: Editorial: When Medical Marijuana Is Misused
Published On:2005-06-24
Source:New York Times (NY)
Fetched On:2008-01-16 02:02:33
WHEN MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS MISUSED

Those who believe, as we do, that marijuana should be legally available for
medical treatments have to be concerned about reports of abuses in
California's pioneering medical marijuana program. If the abuses cannot be
curbed, a political backlash could undermine the ability of thousands of
patients to get marijuana to treat the nausea of chemotherapy, the loss of
appetite that accompanies AIDS and other medical problems.

The future of medical marijuana in California and 10 other states that
allow its use is already precarious given a recent Supreme Court decision
that the federal government may prohibit and prosecute the possession and
use of marijuana for medical purposes. Nobody yet knows what impact that
decision will have on the states but raids by federal agents on medical
marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco this week could be harbingers of a
broader crackdown. Public officials would be wise to clean up their
programs lest flagrant abuses by a few bad actors bring about destruction
of a program that benefits many.

In this environment, it was worrisome to read a first-person report in The
Times on June 12, that the writer, a 31-year-old marathon runner, found it
"shockingly easy" to obtain marijuana in San Francisco. Although she was in
peak health, she sought medical marijuana on the grounds that she suffered
a migraine headache every month or so. After her own health plan turned her
down, she got a recommendation from a clinic doctor who never asked to see
her medical records. His say-so was enough to get her an identification
card from the city's health department, along with cards for two friends
she had designated as "primary caregivers" so that they could pick up her
marijuana if she felt too ill to fetch it herself. That laissez-faire
transaction sounds like an easy target for anyone seeking to denigrate the
whole program.

Californians who support medical uses of marijuana see the danger and are
already moving to tighten regulations. Public officials and even medical
marijuana advocates in California have been looking for ways to rein in
abuses and oversee the dispensaries. Stronger regulation, some say, would
help defuse opposition and send a message that, whatever federal drug
officials may have in mind, the state stands behind its medical marijuana law.
Member Comments
No member comments available...