DRUG WARRIORS: U.S.'S INTERNAL TALIBAN

The Bush administration's war on drugs is a fundamentalist crusade so
irrational it resembles the failed jihad of Afghanistan's Taliban.

Just as the Taliban forbid music, kite flying, close shaving and female
education purely in the service of religious fanaticism, America adheres to
an anti-drug dogma that similarly defies logic. The U.S. and the Taliban
may be mortal enemies in the war on terrorism. But in the war on reason,
they are soul mates.

American policies demonizing marijuana are nothing if not an attack on
reason. What else explains the fanatical prohibition of a substance that
not only has proven to be less harmful than most legal drugs, but also has
a wealth of medical benefits?

Contemporary research has shown marijuana (also known as cannabis) to be
valuable in the treatment of a wide range of ailments. According to the
book, "Marijuana as Medicine: The Science Beyond the Controversy," by
Allison Mack and Janet Joy, the substance offers relief for pain, nausea,
spasticity, glaucoma and movement disorders like multiple sclerosis.The
book, which is an expanded version of a 1999 study conducted by the Academy
of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, found that marijuana is a powerful
appetite stimulant that provides unique relief for patients suffering from
the HIV/AIDS wasting syndrome.

The authors' note new research that suggests marijuana's medicinal
properties may protect the body against some types of malignant tumors and
shield the neurological system against various toxins.

Although most researchers agree that there are some minor respiratory risks
involved in inhaling smoke from burning cannabis, the study concluded that
for most patients the substance's short-term medical benefits outweigh any
smoking-related harm.

The Institute of Medicine report found no reported deaths associated with
the ingestion of marijuana, although nearly 8,000 deaths resulted from the
use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin. Legal drugs like
tobacco and alcohol account for the deaths of tens of thousands a year,
according to the U.S. Centers for Health statistics.

Marijuana's benefits are so wide-ranging and its damage so minuscule, the
federal government would avidly be proclaiming the drug's virtue were
science and rationality the motivating factor. Instead, we are held captive
by a fundamentalist mindset that refuses to acknowledge data that threatens
its dogma.

Rather than hailing the drug as a cornucopia of pharmaceutical wonders, we
demonize it relentlessly. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports for 2000 revealed
that 734,497 people were arrested for marijuana trafficking and possession.

A marijuana arrest can result in imprisonment and a criminal record that
could mean a loss of employment or welfare benefits, denial of student
financial aid, suspension of driving privileges and expulsion from school,
or public housing, regardless of whether it was for medical use.

In October, Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided the Los Angeles
Cannabis Resource Center, which distributed medical marijuana to nearly
1,000 seriously ill people with doctor's prescriptions, most of whom have AIDS.

California is one of eight states that permit medical marijuana use,
although the practice remains illegal under federal law.

As a society, we remain oddly addicted to prohibitionist drug policies.
Despite the wealth of information detailing the folly of our ways, we
trudge ahead helter-skelter, spoiling thousands of lives and extending the
miseries of the gravely ill.

When I say "we," I'm talking primarily about the federal government,
because national polls consistently show the American people favor the use
of medical marijuana. A Pew Research Center Gallup poll in March found that
73 percent of Americans favored the medical use of marijuana with a
doctor's prescription.

In addition to California, the people of Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii,
Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia also have
passed laws allowing marijuana's use as medicine. The Wisconsin Legislature
also is considering a bill that would permit the use of medical marijuana.
If the bill is passed, Wisconsin would become the second state in the
nation to pass a medical-marijuana bill through the legislature instead of
the ballot-initiative process.

New Mexico is considering an even more radical bill that would
decriminalize the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. Pushed by
Gary Johnson, the state's maverick governor, the measure would deal a heavy
blow to the dogma of prohibition.

These heretical challenges to our anti-drug theology may save us all from
federal damnation.