cannabisnews.com: Doctor: Marijuana is Relatively Harmless





Doctor: Marijuana is Relatively Harmless
Posted by CN Staff on October 15, 2004 at 15:48:07 PT
By Dr. Bob Johnson
Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror 
To establish my credentials, you should know that I practiced family medicine for 40 years in Kodiak. My special interests were drug abuse/addiction and psycho-somatic medicine (now mind/body medicine). I was a founder of the Kodiak Mental Health Center in 1970, the Kodiak Council on Alcoholism in 1971, and the first JCAH-approved inpatient treatment program in Alaska (Hope House). I was the medical consultant to that program and held weekly educational sessions with clients on the effects, use, abuse and addiction of all mood-altering drugs until my retirement.
I taught the “Functional Approach to Alcoholism,” a 40-hour behavioral science course at Kodiak College in 1976-77, was a director of the National Council on Alcoholism, Alaska Region in 1978, served as president of the Governor’s Advisory Board on Alcoholism (GABA) from 1979-84 (three years as president), medical director of KCA Outpatient Detoxification Unit from 1990-92. In the early 1980s, at the request of the Legislature, with a committee of the Alaska State Medical Association, I reviewed the effects of marijuana. The committee concluded that marijuana, an hallucinogen, affected control and coordination as much as did alcohol, but had no short or long-term ill effects and was not addicting. In general, it was found to be less dangerous than alcohol and it was felt that it should be legally available. Unfortunately, because of fear created and perpetuated by uneducated politicians, this relatively harmless drug has been made illegal. Many who possessed or used it, regardless of whether or not anyone was harmed, are now serving sentences in jail. In addition, those who would benefit from its use in control of nausea induced by chemotherapy or in terminal illness have great difficulty getting it. I am currently a director of the Alaska Drug Forum, a non-profit corporation formed, among other reasons, to expose the marijuana myth and convince the Alaska Legislature to legalize the drug. Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror (AK)Author: Dr. Bob JohnsonPublished: Friday, October 15, 2004Copyright: 2004 Kodiak Daily MirrorContact: jbrooks kodiakdailymirror.comWebsite: http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Yes on 2 Alaskahttp://www.yeson2alaska.com/Anti-Pot Fight Comes To Fairbankshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19647.shtmlAnti-Pot Team Attacks Push To Legalize Ithttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19639.shtmlAlaskans To Vote on Pot Legalization in '04 http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18067.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 20, 2004 at 18:18:40 PT
Published LTE from The Kodiak Daily Mirror 
Marijuana is Not The Gateway DrugLetter to the EditorWednesday, October 20th, 2004By Robert CarterI’m sure a lot of people think legalizing marijuana is wrong. However if you smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, think how you would feel if you were jailed, fined and given a criminal record for doing so. Opponents to marijuana always use the same arguement: that it is a gateway drug. If marijuana didn’t exist would there be no crack addicts, no heroin junkies? What would be the gateway drug then? Cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine? I remember when I was a kid, smoking reeds by the river with my brother. Was this a gateway drug? Should we outlaw reeds? The concept of gateway drugs is wrong. The gateway to drugs, any drugs, is curiosity. Jailing people for marijuana costs more than it’s worth. Last night on Arts & Entertainment’s “Cold Case Files,” a documentary program, there was a story about a guy who murdered two women and an infant. He was released after seven years because of prison overcrowding. Overcrowding because of a war on drugs. A war where mandatory minimum drug sentencing causes murderers to go free, to make room for nonviolent drug users. What I do in the privacy of my home is my business, not the president’s, not the governor’s, not my neighbor’s. http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com/?pid=19&id=575
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Comment #1 posted by 13th step on October 15, 2004 at 21:15:37 PT
Dr. Bob
Kinda' wishin' my doctor (or the many I've had over the years) was as level headed and rational as this Dr. Bob.Dr. Bob.Sounds comfortable.Good article. Good doctor.Cheers!
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