NOT EVEN MEDICINAL USE IS OK

Another Case Against Marijuana

2003. Another year older, another year wiser. But some in America have
belied this adage by revealing that sometimes, the older one grows, the
less one knows. And what, might you ask, is the proof of this? Our recent
push toward the legalization of pot, or, as it has been termed, "Medical
Marijuana".

Push has come to shove in this past year as more and more advocates for the
legalization of this drug have come forward. Cancer patients and elderly
people who have been helped, as well as parents of children dependent upon
the use of marijuana, have been paraded before the media in an attempt to
convince the people of America of its health benefits and, indeed,
necessity in the medical field.

While I am not opposed to the use of necessary drugs, I urge that we think
long and hard about making marijuana legal. According to National Families
in Action, in the search for modern medical drugs, scientists aim at
discovering or creating drugs that are safe, successful, specific and
stable. This involves a search for drugs that are not toxic to the human
body, target a specific disease or illness with limited side effects, and
easily regulated through a consistent dosage. The difficulty of regulation
and the side-effects of sluggishness, lethargy and short-term memory loss
combine with the potential risks of lung cancer and heart disease to
prevent marijuana from being an ideal medical drug.

While some advocate its medical uses simply for the sake of the few who
would benefit, this claim could serve as a crowbar forcing the door open to
full legalization. In 1993, at a San Francisco conference celebrating the
50th anniversary of the discovery of LSD, Richard Cowen stated, "The key to
it [full legalization] is medical access. Because once you have hundreds of
people using marijuana medically . . . the whole scam is going to be blown.
. . . Medical marijuana is our strongest suit. It is our point of leverage
which will move us toward the legalization of marijuana for personal use."

This should make us wary of the strong campaigners for medical marijuana.
Granted, some supporters are indeed concerned with the health of those few
Americans that could actually be helped by the use of the drug; however, we
should be concerned if these individuals are being used as pawns to achieve
the hidden agendas of others.

Adam Gifford, Jr. wrote a medical article titled "The Unintended
Consequences of Regulating Addictive Substances," claiming that it would be
altogether better if addictive substances were made freely available. Many
of the claims that have risen today are merely echoes from the past--the
arguments that making substances illegal just makes them more desirable and
the assertions that people will simply use the drug anyway are about as
logical as Britteny Spear's statement that she has "been to a lot of
overseas places, like Canada."

Right now, the air is rampant with New Year's Resolutions--to lose weight,
to exercise more, to become more organized. Maybe America should have a
resolution to use wisdom instead of politics in such issues as the
legalization of pot and continue to search for medication that aids more
than it harms.