POT LAWS GROW MORE CONFUSING

Clarity -- It's time for good public-health policy to dictate this
country's laws pertaining to marijuana.

We have long argued that the fight against AIDS has everything to do with
public health policy and nothing to do with morality. Perhaps we should
take a similar approach with the medical-marijuana situation.

Unfortunately, neither side of the medical-marijuana issue is dealing with
the future in a practical or effective way. The problem stems from
marijuana's role in the drug culture, and that it's a recreational drug for
many people -- and what seems to be medical treatment for some.

Most Americans seem to believe that marijuana is basically a danger to the
public health, but that it may well be, for some who are sick, marijuana is
a great medicine.

Unfortunately, our society isn't doing a great job of figuring out a
reasoned approach. Doctors and scientists in particular haven't been much
help in communicating to the rest of us about the benefits of medical
marijuana. Is smoking it the only way to achieve the benefit? Are there
scientifically sound alternatives?

Marijuana has a vocal legion of supporters, many of whom believe the
benefits of the drug go further than bringing relief to those with cancer
and other serious disease. However, more and more evidence is piling up
that marijuana smoking by otherwise healthy people can contribute to
further medical problems, both physiological and psychological.

Law enforcement is in complete disarray over enforcing drug laws. At least
here in Santa Cruz County, local law-enforcement personnel have shown
restraint in dealing with medical-marijuana users -- and those who
distribute the drug.

Of course, amid much publicity, federal authorities are cracking down.
Federal agents have arrested medical-marijuana distributors and have
confiscated the drug.

In Oakland, medical-marijuana guru Ed Rosenthal was convicted on federal
charges of growing the drug, and defense lawyers were prevented from
introducing evidence that he had been doing so to provide pot to medical
patients.

Now, federal lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow
defendants like Rosenthal to be able to introduce evidence showing that
state law allows pot growing.

The legislation, while understandable, just seems to be laying another
layer of confusion onto the argument. We agree that some people seem to
need medical marijuana, but the reality is that many others are interested
in the recreational aspect of the drug.

So we're caught in a situation where medicine tells us that some people are
helped by pot, while others are harmed physically or psychologically by
using it.

Marijuana is hardly the only drug that is good for some and not for others:
a wide variety of prescription drugs are harmful if used outside the bounds
of good medicine.

It's time for marijuana to be treated in the same way. Our public health
system ought to make information more available to the public, and to our
lawmakers, about when and where marijuana should be used.

Those who are sick and can be helped by marijuana should have access to it.
Those who just want to get high should be limited by laws that already
pertain to other prescription-only drugs.

The marijuana situation is getting murkier all the time. Those who use the
drug to get high seem to want it made available more and more. We're not
convinced that universal access to marijuana is something that's good for
our society.

That's why it's time for good science and public-health policy to dictate
what our marijuana laws should be. Adding confusing legislation onto the
pile really won't solve the problem.