cannabisnews.com: Good Medicine





Good Medicine
Posted by CN Staff on May 30, 2003 at 23:21:14 PT
Editorial
Source: Free Lance-Star
Credit Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich for signing a bill that softens the penalty for possessing marijuana in cases of "medical necessity." This one he approved from the heart, brushing aside arguments that such a change would create a loophole for traffic in a controlled substance. That's unlikely. Maryland did not legalize pot. It just reduced the fine for having it from $1,000 to $100. Meanwhile, the change is embraced by an exclusive club: the victims of certain agonizing diseases and their loved ones.
This circle of medical-marijuana proponents believes that people shouldn't have to suffer if there's an ethical way to stop it. They contend that smoking the plant provides relief that conventional medicines--even pills with marijuana's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol--just don't deliver. Making possession in these cases a sub-misdemeanor seems right.What's the science say? A 1999 study by the Institutes of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences offered a mixed judgment. It found that medical marijuana had potential value to treat pain, nausea, and wasting associated with HIV, but that smoked pot heightened the risk for cancer--just as cigarette smoking does. The obvious response is that relieving existential pain now is more important than evading hypothetical malignancies. Medical practice, in fact, agrees: The very radiation used to shrink deadly tumors can precipitate future cancers.Gov. Ehrlich, a Republican, is a member of the club. As his brother-in-law lay dying, the politician recognized that closely controlled, doctor-prescribed marijuana could have made the man's last days better. As a congressman, he co-sponsored a bill that would have freed states to enact their own laws on the matter. It failed.Nevertheless, eight states--Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nevada, and Maine--have legalized medical marijuana by skirting the language of federal statutes that bar it. All but Hawaii held referenda, meaning that lawmakers in those states, fearing political fallout, let the voters decide. Meanwhile, Virginia rationally repealed a 1979 statute that allowed M.D.s to prescribe marijuana in certain cases without fear of prosecution. The law was a sham because even if a doctor wanted to employ the weed, it wasn't exactly stocked at the local CVS.For Virginia lawmakers to reapprove medical-use marijuana, epiphanies need to occur. First, legislators must shed the notion that marijuana is simply taboo. It isn't, as popular policies in other states prove. Second, they must realize that marijuana shouldn't be lumped with drugs such as crack and LSD that have no real medicinal value. Third, they should study the research that says marijuana, while no panacea for victims of AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and so on, nonetheless reduces the chronic distress associated with such diseases or their treatment.Gov. Ehrlich's action shows that medicalizing marijuana is hardly the pet idea of some post-hippie liberal elite. The policy is supported primarily by witnesses to possibly needless human pain.Note: Maryland Gov. Ehrlich's signature on marijuana bill shows an enlightened outlook. Maryland ratifies value of medical marijuana; will Virginia make it a joint policy?Source: Free Lance-Star, The (VA)Published: Saturday, May 31, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Free Lance-StarWebsite: http://fredericksburg.com/Contact: letters freelancestar.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmEhrlich Signs Marijuana Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16363.shtmlAttitudes Ease Toward Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16362.shtml
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