cannabisnews.com: Time To Cut Through The Legal Haze of Marijuana





Time To Cut Through The Legal Haze of Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on March 12, 2004 at 07:58:17 PT
Editorial
Source: Times-Standard 
There has been a lot of debate about medical marijuana laws -- most of it revolving around how much should be allowed for consumption, distribution and production for medical purposes. The arguments range from the federal position of zero tolerance to liberal cries of make it all legal.The questions are far more complex than how much or little or none at all. And it is encouraging to observe efforts being made to understand the ramifications of medical marijuana in schools and the workplace.
A panel hosted by the Humboldt County Workplace Investment Board recently addressed issues concerning marijuana in the workplace.Jon Sapper, a WIB member and assistant superintendent of Humboldt County Schools, said, "Quite a few questions were raised, especially in areas that will probably have to be decided in the courts because there's no clarity in the law to answer those questions."Clarity would indeed seem to be in short supply. There is the conflict between the feds and the states, counties and cities. A county may pass its regulations, but how does that affect federal employees working within the county? What effect does a drug-free school zone have on a student who has a 215 card for medical marijuana?The Americans with Disabilities Act outlines the requirements about employing people with disabilities. How would that affect an employee who shows up high on medical marijuana? Can that employee be turned away or prevented from operating a forklift? It can also be argued that medical marijuana really is for those who are too critically ill to work.What's the difference between an employee who takes a prescription pain killer that warns against operating certain equipment or driving while taking the medication and a person who takes medical marijuana?All prescription drugs go through a rigorous screening at the Food and Drug Administration before they can be marketed. The analysis determines how the drug should be used, how it is retained in the body, how it reacts with other drugs, what effects it has on pregnant or nursing women. Since marijuana has not undergone this scrutiny, what is known about its effects?The federal government does not recognize marijuana as a medicine, putting it, instead, into the Schedule I category with heroin and LSD, more restrictive than Schedule II, which includes morphine and cocaine.The primary ingredient of marijuana, delta-9-tetrhydrocannabinol (THC), is available for prescription as Marinol, which has been approved by the FDA for AIDS patients and those undergoing cancer chemotherapy.Humboldt State University Police Chief Robert Foster wrote recently in an editorial-page item in the Times-Standard: "It's important to know that local ordinances and state medicinal marijuana laws do not apply on school property, including colleges and universities. On campus, you will be arrested for either possession or trafficking."Robert Bonner, former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a paper published in 1995: "Those who insist that marijuana has medical uses would serve society better by promoting or sponsoring more legitimate research," rather than promoting additional legislation.We agree with this approach. It has been proven that marijuana has medicinal uses. The issue that is frequently missed is that there is no standardized source of marijuana for commercial medicinal purposes. More energy should be spent discovering just how much good can come from the plant and treat it the same as a prescription drug.Continuing on the course of countervailing, superseding, overlapping and just plain confusing laws does more harm than good and impedes legitimate research on a drug that could have tremendous benefits for mankind.Source: Times-Standard (CA)Published: Friday, March 12, 2004 Copyright: 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc.Contact: editor times-standard.comWebsite: http://www.times-standard.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmSearching for Common Ground on Pot Guidelines http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18350.shtmlBoard Calls for Medical Pot Task Force http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18186.shtmlHumboldt Struggles with New MJ Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18173.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on March 12, 2004 at 10:01:07 PT
Here's my contribution
This will be a great letter that they will never print, so I will print it here:Dear editors,In case you haven't noticed, the marijuana laws involve violence, It is a violent act to kidnap someone at gunpoint and hold them captive. This is what arresting someone means. It is a legal kidnapping, enforced at gunpoint.We agree as a society to use this violent means of control on people who have committed acts of violence. But why are we using violence to control marijuana?Look at the devastating effects of fast food on the children of this country. Are we going to solve that problem with violence too?No we're going to solve the huge threat to our children posed by fast food using rational means of control that don't involve guns.Then why should we bring guns into the equation with marijuana?Keeping marijuana illegal means choosing a violent means of control over a nonviolent means of control. But the violent solution isn't even working. Potheads go along peacefully when arrested, and peacefully go back to smoking pot when they get out.So what is the value of these laws, beyond what they symbolize? All they do is make America a more violent society, and they do nothing to curb marijuana use, nothing at all.Marijuana users are not impressed by your violent ways. When society uses violence to control us, we feel afraid -- but we also feel morally superior, because we are peaceful and you are not, therefore we are BETTER HUMAN BEINGS than you are, and also, we are are BETTER CHRISTIANS than you are, too!That feeling of superiority gives us confidence that some day, if we are patient and keep working hard, we will win and stop your violence towards us.Because the meek shall inherit the Earth and the lion shall lay down with the lamb. Let all who have ears, hear it. Amen.
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on March 12, 2004 at 09:19:40 PT:
Nah, nah, nah.
"Continuing on the course of countervailing, superseding, overlapping and just plain confusing laws does more harm than good and impedes legitimate research on a drug that could have tremendous benefits for mankind."Nah, nah, nah. The DEA, FDA, HHS, ONDCP, and NIDA have impeded "legitimate research." Only because of Compassionate legislation and initiatives has "legitimate research" been able to gain more respectability. 
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