cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Medical Marijuana Posted by FoM on August 05, 2000 at 08:48:22 PT NewsTALK - Talk About Medical Marijuana Source: Arizona Daily Star The government pledged yesterday to continue resisting California's voter-approved medical-marijuana law, arguing that the government has the right to penalize doctors who recommend cannabis by revoking their licenses to dispense medication. Justice Department lawyers argued their position in U.S. District Court here during what may be the final stage of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The wrangling follows a federal court decision in mid-July that allows the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to provide cannabis to members who face imminent harm from a serious medical condition and have found that legal alternatives to marijuana don't work or cause intolerable side effects. In the ACLU case, the civil-rights group contends that the government's position violates doctors' free-speech rights and that many doctors now resist recommending pot for fear of losing their federal right to prescribe medication. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup was expected to rule within weeks, lawyers said, and the ruling could have broad implications for several states with similar laws. Measures similar to California's Proposition 215, which voters passed in 1996, have passed in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state. Arizona's 1996 initiative allows physicians to prescribe marijuana and otherwise illegal drugs to seriously and terminally ill patients, but doctors so far have been reluctant to test the government's threat. Department of Justice lawyer Joseph W. Lobue told the judge that the government doesn't care whether California voters approved the so-called Compassionate Use Act, which allows patients to grow and possess marijuana for medical use with a doctor's recommendation. He said federal law applies to the whole country no matter how states vote. Legal jockeying in California began three years ago when White House drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey said doctors who recommended marijuana would lose their federal licenses to prescribe controlled substances. He said the doctors would be excluded from Medicare and Medicaid and could face criminal charges. TALK ABOUT THE NEWS: * Do you think doctors should be able to prescribe marijuana to the seriously ill, and, if so, under what conditions? * Do you think the U.S. Justice Department should continue efforts to block voter-approved initiatives to allow medical marijuana? * Should there be more testing to determine the medical efficacy of marijuana? Share your thoughts on today's News Talk. Because of space limits, a sample of responses will be selected to offer a range of opinions. E-mails should contain two to four sentences and may be sent to: newsq azstarnet.com Phone messages of no more than one minute may be called in to 434-4094. Be sure to spell your name and leave a phone number for verification purposes. All comments should reach us by noon today. News Talk appears on Page A2 Monday through Friday. Responses appear Tuesday through Saturday on the Opinion page. Government vows to resist California law letting the sick grow and use it with a doctor's OK.By David Kravets, The Associated Press Published: Friday, August 4, 2000 NewsTALK Feedback from Page A2 Yesterday:* SUMMARY: Do you think doctors should be able to prescribe marijuana to the seriously ill? Do you think the U.S. Justice Department should continue efforts to block voter- approved initiatives to allow medical marijuana? • • • My sister died of cancer at the age of 26. I definitely support the legalization of marijuana for medical use! Jean Dew Rapid weight loss is difficult to avoid with chemotherapy and morphine. Reduction in the morphine dose and the addition of marijuana would assist in offsetting this weight loss. As a "stage 4, metastatic, non-small-cell lung cancer" survivor, I believe there would be great advantages to using marijuana to help reduce morphine dosage and assist the patient in achieving a higher quality of life during their battle with this terrible disease. We should mandate further testing of this possibly valuable tool in our fight to relieve this suffering. Jeff Oaks The "owners" of this country have voted, and the majority of at least six states have agreed to permit the use of marijuana for medical use. The managers of our country are obliged to conform to our wishes or to vacate their positions so others can step in to perform the tasks the voters hired them to do. If a business directs an employee to perform a task and he/she won't do it, that person would be removed, pronto. Why should we treat this situation any differently? Robert Enyeart Salesman We must leave cannabis in the control of violent criminals. If we let doctors and patients decide what's best for their medical needs, we open a floodgate of freedom. Next thing you know, people will think they have an inalienable right to use the less harmful product just because they enjoy it. Don Berry I lived through the Prohibition era and its vain attempt to ban alcohol consumption. The 21st Amendment acknowledged the futility of that measure. Today, we have a new industry: the building of prisons to contain thousands of so-called criminals, most with a tenuous association to drugs. This is such a profitable industry, our alleged "drug war" is simply tokenism. Prohibition makes the product more appealing. Legalizing drugs will take away the enormous profits made illegally and provide a more reasonable system of jurisdiction. Sue B. Green Two doctors should approve marijuana before it is given to a patient, and then, only in the hospital. Julia Mintz Doctors should not prescribe illegal drugs. Given the inherent capitalistic nature of most humans, especially we Americans, my conservative estimate is that at least a quarter of the prescriptions would be written for profit. If doctors will prescribe legal medications to make a buck, what makes us think prescriptions of now-illegal substances like cannabis won't be completely abused? Burney Starks Retired Army officer Age 49 http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000805newstalkresponses.htmlPublished: Saturday, August 5, 2000Copyright: 2000 Pulitzer Publishing Co.Contact: letters azstarnet.com CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by Kanabys on August 06, 2000 at 10:26:03 PT I would have expected nothing different....... >>Doctors should not prescribe illegal drugs. Given the inherent capitalistic nature of most humans, especially we Americans, my conservative estimate is that at least a quarter of the prescriptions would be written for profit. If doctors will prescribe legal medications to make a buck, what makes us think prescriptions of now-illegal substances like cannabis won't be completely abused?Burney StarksRetired Army officerAge 49I do, however, commend most of the people who replied here for having common sense and intelligence.OH OH, yeah, Mr. Starks, let's legalize it (non-prescription)and your little argument will not be one bit valid!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on August 05, 2000 at 21:22:24 PT: Great Satire I love that brilliantly satirical letter from Don Berry. He put the whole issue into sharp focus with just three carefully worded sentences.I also appreciate the letter from Sue Green, who proves that the generation before the "Baby Boomers" is also on board in our fight against drug prohibition. Too often we hear in the media that the only people who want to end drug prohibition are ex-hippies and Gen-Xers who want to be free to smoke pot again. My hat is off to Sue Green.The last two letters are ridiculous. Why should people have to go to the hospital every time they need to take their medication? And Burney Starks' comments do more to speak out in general against doctors than to provide any substantive argument against medical marijuana. Each time I read lists of LTEs like this, I am overwhelmed by the contrast between well-thought-out arguments against drug prohibition and the poor logic of the anti-drug crowd. I just hope the antis keep writing. It's good to see they are so willing to reveal their own idiocy in such a public way. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: