WISCONSIN SHOULD TAKE LEAD IN MARIJUANA RESEARCH

With my initials, L.S.D., I have been the butt of jokes and jibes for most
of my adult life. In fairness to my mother, who gave me these infamous
initials, I must add that she gave birth to me 11 years before the
hallucinogenic drug was invented. LSD, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy or
marijuana simply were not used or available in my pre-World War II high school.

However, 1942 and 2002 are very different years when it comes to sex, drugs
and all sorts of risky behaviors. The most common illicit drug in use now
is marijuana, or "pot." The Latin name for the plant is cannabis. Today it
is federally illegal to grow, sell or smoke marijuana. Regulation of this
drug is established by the Food and Drug Administration and enforcement is
carried out by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Two Democratic representatives and one Republican have introduced a bill to
legalize some use of pot. This bill, like its predecessors, is not a
blanket legalization of cannabis, but authorizes physicians to prescribe
its use to treat disease or relieve pain and suffering for seriously or
terminally ill patients.

The applicable law currently on the books here in Wisconsin was actually
signed by me in 1982. My memory is hazy, but I remember the intent was to
give physicians some leeway in treating their patients and to promote
further research. A few years later, California passed Proposition 215,
which allowed people to grow their own pot if they needed it medically.
Leave it to California!

Medical marijuana "clubs" soon came into being and were clearly fronts for
people who wished to use pot as a recreational drug. This brought the
Supreme Court into the act, and in 1994, the court ruled that marijuana was
a schedule I drug, which is defined legally as highly addictive and of no
medical usefulness. That last phrase is one where, in my opinion, the
learned justices over-reached. I don't think we know that!

The DEA says that is true, but an enforcement agency should not be our
guide relative to medical possibilities. Here in Wisconsin we have a
world-class research university, one that has conducted clinical studies in
biochemistry for more than a century. The Wisconsin Idea has always urged
our Legislature to seek help in its decision-making from the other end of
State Street.

Here's an opportunity for Wisconsin to again make a great contribution to
the nation. Our Legislature should take the lead to fund research on the
medical use of marijuana, and get FDA and DEA regulations set aside so the
university can carry out a controlled, legitimate and credible clinical
study in this matter. Our state's medical association would support that as
well as our state's nursing association. They are already on record.

It isn't simply a question of whether or not there are medical benefits.
Such a study could also tell us if the risks outweigh the benefits. The
first rule of medicine is "Primum non nocere," which translates to "First,
do no harm." If we find this substance has substantial medical benefits,
the next step would be for pharmaceutical companies to produce it in a pill
or liquid form so as to control dosage and purity.

The Legislature has an opportunity here to help our great university
research faculty to provide this nation with definitive information about a
substance used at least once by 87 million Americans. But please don't tell
the DEA that a former governor with the initials L.S.D. is supporting this.