DRUG POLICIES

Chicago -- This is in response to "Marijuana is not medicine," by
Andrea Barthwell, a deputy director at the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy and a past president of the American
Society of Addiction Medicine (Commentary, Feb. 17). Barthwell failed
to include some very important truths not only about medicinal
marijuana but, more important, the government's determination to keep
facts, truth and the ability to make our own health-care decisions
from us.

Her commentary should not be read in a health-care context but,
rather, in the context of the war on drugs.

Marijuana is a Schedule I narcotic, according to the federal
government. This means that it has no accepted medicinal value and is
considered highly addictive and dangerous. What this placement really
means, however, is that researchers looking into the effects of
marijuana on humans can only receive permission from the government,
the keeper of the keys, if their stated hypothesis is to prove
marijuana unsafe.

Furthermore, prescribe marijuana to a patient in your medical
practice, in a state where a majority of registered voters have
approved its use, and the government may take away your license to
practice medicine.

In fact, there has not been a single death attributed to smoking
marijuana, nor any demonstrable studies to prove that marijuana use
leads to the use of "harder" drugs or any of the other things
mentioned in Barthwell's piece.

Barthwell mentions several times that a primary goal of our society
should be to stop children from experimenting with illegal drugs in
the first place. To this end, state and local governments have been
strongly encouraged for more than 20 years to operate the DARE program
in public schools, using police officers rather than health-care
providers to essentially scare children into compliance with
zero-tolerance programs.

Several years ago, to answer growing criticism and doubts about DARE's
effectiveness, the U.S. government commissioned an in-depth study of
children who had been through the program. Not only did this
peer-reviewed study find that these children were not less likely to
try drugs, they noted that it was possible that DARE actually
encouraged drug experimentation. This report was quickly suppressed;
the DARE program continues nationwide today.

Both government-commissioned and independent studies have also shown
that random drug testing of students does not discourage drug
experimentation and use. In fact, it tends to discourage students from
participating in extracurricular activities--programs that are known
to be beneficial to kids and to keep them off the streets after
school. Yet President Bush recently called for $23 million to expand
this program.

If Barthwell and the ONDCP are so keen on keeping our children from
trying illicit drugs, why continue failed programs? Our children are
put into programs known to be ineffective in helping reduce drug use.
Then should they falter and get into trouble with drugs, they are no
longer eligible for federal education aid as they try to finance
college and beyond.

So first we put them into ineffective programs, then if they do try
illicit drugs and get caught, we prevent them from learning.

Do these policies make sense?

What Barthwell's piece does clearly demonstrate is the continuing
attempt to keep us afraid of marijuana, despite the facts.

Michael R. Butz