Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, a Las Vegas Democrat, introduced AB453, which would allow sick people to smoke marijuana with a doctor's prescription and would lower penalties for possession of small amounts of the drug.

Under her plan, the state would grow pot for sale to licensed users; Sen. Mark James (R-Las Vegas) introduced a companion bill in the State Senate. Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa opposed the measures, however, on grounds that the state shouldn't act until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of state-run medical marijuana programs.

Another Las Vegas Democrat, Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, also objected to the medical marijuana proposals, arguing that the state should stay out of the pot-growing business. Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick and other law enforcement officials oppose the measures on grounds that marijuana is a "gateway" drug that can lead to the use and abuse of stronger drugs like cocaine and heroin. Currently, Nevada has one of the toughest anti-marijuana laws in the country since possession of small amounts of the drug is a felony.

Gammick argues that a pharmaceutical version of marijuana is already on the market under the brand name Marinol and, therefore, additional legislation is unnecessary. His position is supported by a number of anti-narcotics crusaders including former Drug Czar William Bennett and Dr. Robert DuPont, ex-director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"Those who want to move the war on drugs from the criminal to the medical arena neglect the fact that laws against drug use promote effective treatment," Bennett and DuPont wrote last month in the Miami Herald. "More threatening than the efforts to medicalize drugs are the efforts to legalize drugs." Unfortunately, that's what's happening in Nevada and seven other states that have voted to legalize medical marijuana.

They added that "we need to counter a pernicious myth cited by drug-legalization supporters: that we have lost the war on drugs. That is not so." According to reputable studies, the number of Americans using illegal drugs, which peaked at 25.4 million in 1979, dropped to 12 million by 1992 because of a number of effective drug prevention programs including Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign. Drug usage increased again during the Clinton presidency but is still far short of the 1979 level.

Drug laws are under review throughout the nation due in part to high-profile cases like those of actor Robert Downey Jr., and baseball player Darryl Strawberry. As former Deputy Drug Czar John Walters noted recently in the Weekly Standard, "Downey only seems to get treated for his addiction when he is forced to by the criminal justice system. Indeed, it's hard to imagine a worse advertisement for the effectiveness of drug treatment than Robert Downey Jr."

Or Strawberry, I would add. He's been in and out of treatment more often than Downey and he continues his self-destructive behavior.

Those who advocate drug treatment programs instead of law enforcement and incarceration are natural allies of the drug legalizers. "The therapy-only lobby is alive and well and more dogmatic than ever," observed Walters. The therapy-only folks contend that drug addiction is a disease, not a pattern of behavior for which people can be held responsible.

"The idea that our prisons are filled with people whose only offense was possession of an illegal drug is utter fantasy," Walters asserted.

The drug legalization lobby is financed by a few wealthy contributors including billionaire George Soros and George Zimmer, owner of the Men's Wearhouse and star of those irritating "I guarantee it" TV commercials. Zimmer, a prominent participant in a "State of Ecstasy" conference in San Francisco last February, told a reporter that he and his wife only take the designer drug Ecstasy for "therapeutic purposes." Oh sure, and I saw the Easter Bunny here in Carson last weekend.

Another disturbing development is Hollywood's tendency to glamorize drugs. In the new movie "Blow," starring Johnny Depp as real-life cocaine king George Jung, a Washington Post reviewer said Depp's job "is to buff up Jung's drug-dealing history with winning ways, a compelling history and a good-looking face."

And on NBC's popular "West Wing," ultra-liberal President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) sees the fight against drugs as a lost cause and favors drug legalization. But as another ex-Drug Czar, Barry McCaffrey, wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "President Bartlett ... should take a harder look at the real impact of legalizing drugs. Each year drug use costs the U.S. 52,000 drug-related deaths and roughly $110 billion in additional societal costs. Legalizing drugs would compound this problem."

In my opinion, the legalization of medical marijuana contributes to the availability of other, more dangerous drugs. And since there's no scientific evidence to support the notion that smoking weed is a cure for anything, the state Legislature should impose strict controls on so-called medical marijuana.

Otherwise, Bay Area-type "cannabis clubs" will spring up all over the Silver State, and their patrons aren't sick people; they're pot smokers, plain and simple. Let's just say no to that sick idea.

Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.

Source: Nevada Appeal (NV)
Author: Guy W. Farmer
Published: Sunday, April 22, 2001
Copyright: 2001 Nevada Appeal
Contact: appeal@tahoe.com
Website: http://tahoe.com/appeal/

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