cannabisnews.com: Dazed & Confused on Medical Marijuana!





Dazed & Confused on Medical Marijuana!
Posted by FoM on June 22, 1999 at 12:18:30 PT
Source: Miami Herald On Line
A recent court ruling is welcome, but more change is needed.You be the judge: Before you is an AIDS patient charged with posses-sing marijuana. He pleads that the prescription drugs he takes to bolster his weakened immune system suppress his appetite and leave him chronically nauseous and underweight.
The defendant testifies that smoking pot is the only way he can tolerate the food that he needs to survive, and he cites a National Institute of Medicine study to back him up. The two-year study released in March con-firms that smoking marijuana is effective in treating the pain, nausea and the severe weight loss common in cases of full-blown AIDS.After hearing this evidence, you (a) jail the defendant because the law's the law; (b) free him and order the cops to leave him alone; (c) give him probation and warn him to go and toke no more -- even if abstaining brings pain, suffering and a higher risk of death.If this scenario leaves you a bit dazed and confused, welcome to the bizarre matrix of state and federal laws, rules and policies now guiding a criminal-justice system clumsily trying to cope with issues more properly left to doctors and their patients.A recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court, while clearly correct, did little to clarify the larger issues. The court ruled that an appeals court was right in holding that a trial judge erred in refusing to con-sider a defendant's argument that his use of marijuana was a ``medical necessity.''While judges hearing similar cases are now on notice to allow such testimony, trial verdicts may be unaffected. So patients using marijuana for medical purposes still assume a legal risk. Moreover, even if the dispute in Florida ultimately is resolved -- by the courts or the Legislature -- in favor of legalizing the use of medical marijuana with a doctor's prescription, the feds strongly oppose allowing the states any discretion in these matters. Although Florida law has taken a tiny step forward, patients using marijuana for medical reasons won't be safe from prosecution until the federal government starts using medical science instead of myths and political expediency when formulating its policies on drugs. 
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Comment #1 posted by Eric Roselles on May 14, 2001 at 14:01:23 PT:
Medical Use of Marijuana
I am unaware at what point in our nations short history that the people of this country determined and trusted the government, the courts, and it's agencies with the sole authority of determining what is "sufficient", "medically proven","safe", or "acceptable scientific evidence ". The FDA and people like Janet LaRue have become nothing more than a hinderance to medicine as a practice and the people who suffer are the sick. I am sure there are FDA approved THC pills and such Janet but how much do they cost? I as a tax payer do not and am unwilling to pay for the cost of FDA approved drugs that are no more effective then smoking a joint of pot. This country just had an election, with one of the key issues being the high cost of prescription drugs, what gives. The US was denied a UN seat in the committee determining human rights. Maybe justifiably so. Any country, especially the United States, should be ashamed of enforcing federal laws above the health and happiness of a human. Unless I'm mistaken that was China's justification for murdering pro-democracy demonstrators. I can see they served democracy just fine in California.  
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