MARIJUANA IS NOT MEDICINE

An Aug. 22, 2004, Montana Standard article, "California Study Shows
Drop in Teen Use of Marijuana", makes reference to a recent California
study cited by "medical marijuana" proponents who hope to pass
Montana's Initiative 148. The survey allegedly "proves" that marijuana
use among teens decreased after California's Prop 215 was passed.

Actually, this particular survey, the California Student Survey, is
flawed and does not give an accurate representation of what happened
in California following the passage of California's "medical
marijuana" law, Prop 215. Students were required to get parental
permission to participate, and a large number of parental permission
slips were not returned. In addition, the students did not have to
take the survey if they chose not to.

According to Sue Rusche, president and CEO of National Families in
Action, another study, the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
shows just the opposite of the California Student Survey. The results
of this study showed, that except for one year, marijuana use among
teens increased each year for at least four years following voter
approval of Prop 215, which was passed in 1996.

The proponents of Montana's "medical marijuana" initiative are playing
upon the sympathy of the voters, saying it will help cancer, AIDS, and
glaucoma patients, etc. However, there are already many safe,
effective, and legal prescription drugs that will alleviate nausea,
pain, etc. Marijuana is not medicine. It is a dangerous drug that is
already widely abused. Passing an initiative making it legal for
so-called medicinal purposes will just open the door to even greater
abuse.

I make these remarks not out of lack of compassion for the ill, but
simply out of great concern about the growing problem of drug abuse,
especially among our young people.

David W. Henrich

8 Mile Continental Dr.

Butte