FIND THE COURAGE

Daniel Barrick's otherwise thorough and detailed profile of Granite
Staters for Medical Marijuana (Monitor, Sept. 30) may have left
readers unclear about the origin of the current federal prohibition on
medical use of marijuana.

It was Congress, not the Food and Drug Administration, that banned
marijuana from medical use by classifying it in Schedule I of the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. This was an entirely political
decision, not made by FDA scientists, doctors or health experts.
Candidates who say they oppose medical marijuana laws because
"politicians shouldn't interfere with medicine" need to review their
history. Marijuana was a legal medicine, sold in a variety of
preparations made by major pharmaceutical companies, until the "reefer
madness" of the 1930s and the federal ban that resulted - a ban
opposed by the American Medical Association. The American Academy of
Family Physicians, the American Nurses Association and hundreds of
other medical and public health organizations have called for legal
protection for medical marijuana patients, but health experts can't
undo a political decision. Politicians - including presidential
candidates - need to find the courage to fix a bad, unscientific
decision made by their predecessors.

BRUCE MIRKEN

Washington, D.C.

(The writer is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project.)