READING THE SMOKE SIGNALS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

The statement of Rep. Mark E. Souder, "If proponents of 'medical'
marijuana truly believed that smoking the drug was safe and effective,
they would have submitted their data to the FDA," is simply false. For
the FDA to approve marijuana as a prescription medicine, the
sponsoring company would have to do clinical trials using
quality-controlled marijuana obtained from the same source that would
provide it for sale should approval be granted. Federal rules make
that impossible.

Clinical research on marijuana must be done using marijuana obtained
from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a notoriously low-quality
crop that is not available for commercial sale.

Bruce Mirken

Director of Communications

Marijuana Policy Project

Washington, D.C.