MARIJUANA IS NO Rx

The Law: The Supreme Court has once again heard arguments in a case
involving so-called medical marijuana. And once again, compassion for the
sick and dying is being exploited by those with another agenda.

Three years ago the court ruled 8-0 that federal laws supersede state
laws and that federal law prohibits the distribution or sale of
marijuana. In so doing, it refused to protect "clubs" that distributed
"medical" marijuana from federal charges.

Now, in a ruling on a case brought by Angel Raich, who suffers from a
brain tumor, and Diane Monson, who suffers from degenerative spinal
disease, the (surprise!) San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court has
found that federal prosecution of medical marijuana users who use
homegrown cannabis with their doctor's permission and their state's
approval is unconstitutional.

Many supporters of medical marijuana claim their purpose is to relieve
suffering and not use the issue as a means to legalize drugs. But when
asked in a January 2000 interview if medical marijuana was a Trojan
horse for drug legalization, the director of an organization dedicated
to ending the drug war replied: "I hope so."

Fact is, smoked marijuana has no medical value that can't be met by a
legal, FDA-approved prescription drug called Marinol that contains the
active ingredient in marijuana. Marinol is administered in a
controlled dose and has been cleared by the medical community.

It has been found to relieve the nausea and vomiting associated with
chemotherapy for cancer patients and to assist with loss of appetite
for AIDS patients. According to Dr. Andrea Barthwell, past president
of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the only property that
Marinol lacks is the capacity to create a "high."

The first rule of medicine is to do no harm. According to the National
Institutes of Health, someone who smokes five joints a week may be
taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a
pack of cigarettes daily. Smoking one marijuana cigarette deposits
four times as much tar into the lungs as a filtered tobacco cigarette.

A study by a team of researchers led by Dr. Thomas Klein at the
University of South Florida and published in the journal DNA and Cell
Biology shows that marijuana alters the immune system as well as the
brain. In those whose immune systems are already impaired, marijuana
may actually aggravate deteriorating health.

Raich and Monson may have a legitimate medical need for pain relief
and a legitimate hope that smoked marijuana can provide it. But as
Justice Stephen Breyer has noted, if the medical marijuana laws are
allowed to stand, "Everybody will say mine is medical."

It's true some chemicals in the marijuana plant offer some potential
for medical use. Yet smoking the raw plant, which is what advocates
want approved, is a method of delivery supported by neither law nor
scientific evidence -- and as a pain-killer has about as much utility
as a good bottle of bourbon.

The medical marijuana movement is blowing smoke.