cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot Laws Working





Medical Pot Laws Working
Posted by CN Staff on December 05, 2002 at 20:40:39 PT
A Register-Guard Editorial 
Source: Register-Guard
A new report on state medical marijuana laws, including Oregon's, reaffirms what supporters have contended all along: the laws are not being abused and are bringing needed relief to patients with severe pain.The report was prepared by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, based on a study conducted between September 2001 and June of this year. The study examined Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska and four counties in California, where state laws allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Overall, the GAO found that few people - roughly 2,450 in the states and counties studied - use marijuana for medical reasons. That's no more than 0.05 percent, minuscule by anyone's standards.The study also found that more than 70 percent of medicinal marijuana users are at least 40 years old, a fact that underscores the notion that the law and the drug are being used by the people they were intended to help. Another interesting finding was that in Oregon and Hawaii, where information on gender is kept, about 70 percent of the patients using the laws are male.The report was not totally positive. It noted that "some" law enforcement officials said that while crimefighting itself has not been harmed by medical marijuana laws, laws allowing doctors to prescribe the drug for pain relief have "complicated" efforts to seize illegal marijuana and to prosecute some cases. Mostly, the GAO noted, law enforcement officials contend that medical pot laws have resulted in "a general softening" of public attitudes toward marijuana. While it's unclear what "a general softening" might really mean, a more tolerant attitude about helping patients cope with pain in private is not a negative effect.A more predictable criticism of state medical pot laws, as found in the GAO report, is that they are inevitably in conflict with federal law, which still bans marijuana for any and all purposes. The Bush administration, again predictably, said that medical marijuana laws worsen relations between federal, state and local law enforcement and that the laws "create legal loopholes for drug dealers and marijuana cultivators to avoid arrest and prosecution."Such rigid anti-marijuana attitudes conveniently ignore the welcome medical relief that laws such as Oregon's bring to people who need it. The conflicts with federal law could be easily resolved by congressional action to reclassify marijuana as a drug with legitimate medical uses, placing it alongside opiates and other drugs that can be both used and abused. The central finding in the GAO report is that medical marijuana laws work as intended. That's a very positive conclusion.Complete Title: Medical Pot Laws Working: Government Report Is, On The Whole, PositiveSource: Register-Guard, The (OR)Published: December 4, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Register-GuardContact: rgletters guardnet.comWebsite: http://www.registerguard.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:GAO Report in PDF Formathttp://freedomtoexhale.com/gao.pdfMedical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmGAO Finds Medical Marijuana Little Used http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14862.shtmlStudy: Most Medical Pot Users Older Menhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14859.shtmlLaw Officers Have Mixed Reaction To Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14856.shtml
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