IT'S DOPE

No, doctors should not be permitted to prescribe marijuana as medicine.

The campaign to legitimize "medical" marijuana is based on the presumption
that science views marijuana as medicine. This is blatantly false. Smoked
marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science -- it is not medicine and
it is not safe.

There are many long-term health consequences of marijuana use. According to
the National Institutes of Health, marijuana contains more than 400
chemical compounds. Studies show that someone who smokes five "joints" per
week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who
smokes a pack of cigarettes every day.

Smoking marijuana weakens the immune system and raises the risk of lung
infections. Harvard University researchers report that the risk of a heart
attack is five times higher than normal in the hour after smoking marijuana.

The American Medical Association has rejected pleas to endorse marijuana as
medicine; instead, it recommended that marijuana remain a controlled
substance. The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research views smoked
marijuana as having no future as medicine.

Any determination of a drug's valid medical use must be based on the best
available science. Smoked marijuana is not medicine -- it's dope.

Richard M. Beary, Chief of Police, Lake Mary