cannabisnews.com: It's Bad Medicine, It's Bad Law





It's Bad Medicine, It's Bad Law
Posted by FoM on September 09, 2000 at 19:57:27 PT
By Michael J. Norton
Source: Denver Post 
A few sad stories are already beginning to show up in the news. A man with multiple sclerosis smokes illegal marijuana, supposedly to relieve muscle spasms. A man with AIDS thinks he and others suffering from the disease should be able to smoke marijuana because it might relieve his nausea.These stories are designed to engender sympathy among Coloradans, and they do. The stories are also designed to emotionally move Coloradans to vote "yes" on a constitutional amendment that would supposedly legalize marijuana for medical purposes. 
Amendment 20 is bad medicine and bad law. For our children and for our families, Coloradans should vote "no" on Amendment 20.The reasons are clear:Smoked marijuana is medically unnecessary. Ask your doctor. There are more effective and approved drugs available, including those you don't have to smoke or swallow. The National Institutes of Health reported in March 1992 that there are better, safer drugs available.Subsequent research bears this out. For example, Marinol contains the active ingredient as marijuana but is FDA-tested and approved, and soon will be available in patch form. Physicians can prescribe precise amounts of Marinol.Patients would have to buy marijuana from illegal street dealers or grow their own. You won't see this fact on the slick TV ads from the promarijuana forces. And the law would allow them to possess enough marijuana for as many as 150 cigarettes - quite a stash. But it will still be a criminal offense to sell marijuana.No prescription would be required, only a statement that crude marijuana "might" relieve symptoms. Is that a reason to amend the state's constitution?What's potentially worse, a person could become entitled to use marijuana by presenting his or her medical records at a state registry office. In this day of desktop publishing, consider the potential for fraud and abuse.The amendment invites recreational drug users to find medical excuses to smoke marijuana. Employees at the state registry office would have little time to check the authenticity of the doctor's signature and medical records, and if these checks aren't made quickly, approval to use marijuana must automatically be granted. If the applicant is rejected, would he or she sue?If passed, this amendment would send a dangerous message to our children: If marijuana is "good medicine," it must be "OK for kids, too" at a time when illegal drug use by children is at epidemic proportions.Finally, there is a threat to the workplace. You'll hear that the proposed amendment attempts to address employers' fears. But the Americans With Disabilities Act is so broad that it could protect employees under the influence of marijuana in the workplace.That's a compelling list of reasons to vote "no" on Amendment 20, reasons that doesn't even include law enforcement concerns.Proponents, using out-of-state money, will mount a slick, well-financed campaign to persuade Coloradans to pass this wrong-headed amendment. Mostly, you'll hear a few sad stories. You may also hear about some so-called "research." But most of the medical and scientific communities dispute such "research." The most important consideration, however, is that these California-based pro-marijuana backers really want a foot in the door to legalize drugs in our state. Use of marijuana as medicine is just the first step. They hope that Colorado, and then other states, will legalize all drugs - marijuana, cocaine, the rest.I don't think it will work. Coloradans must ask themselves and their doctors: If smoking marijuana is such a great treatment, why is it that the American Medical Association is opposed? Why is the American Cancer Society opposed? If it's such a valuable drug, why is it still illegal to sell? And, for that man with multiple sclerosis, why does the International Association of Multiple Sclerosis Societies warn that smoked marijuana is not an appropriate medicine?The American Glaucoma Society is opposed. The American Academy of Opthalmology is opposed. The Colorado Medical Society, Colorado Health and Hospital Association, Tri-County Health, Colorado Academy of Family Practitioners, and Colorado Dental Association are all against the use of crude marijuana as medicine.Why? They know the alternatives, and they've seen the research - research that shows that smoking marijuana is especially dangerous for people with weak immune systems, including those with AIDS.In our own state, Gov. Bill Owens, State Treasurer Mike Coffman, Attorney General Ken Salazar and U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland are opposed to the amendment, and the state legislature recently passed a resolution urging de feat of this measure.Coloradans must ask themselves how those pot users we are about to see in slick TV commercials will be buying marijuana: from the dealer on the corner? Will some of the drugs end up in the hands of children? I pray not.Coloradans Against Legalizing Marijuana is a coalition of doctors, nurses, elected officials, law enforcement officials, business people, the faith communities, civic leaders, parents and educators.We have read the fine print. We understand the sham, the hidden agenda and the threat to our children and families in Colorado. We hope other Coloradans will hear us, and vote "no" on Amendment 20. It's bad medicine. It's bad law. Michael J. Norton is a former U.S. Attorney for the district of Colorado and is currently in private practice in Englewood. He is treasurer of Coloradan Against Legalizing Marijuana. He can be reached at: mjnorton nortonlidstone.comPro:It's All About CompassionBy Martin Chilcutt and Chris Ott, M.D. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man," stated Frances Young, chief administrative law judge for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Seriously and terminally ill patients should be given the option of medical marijuana use. Its therapeutic value far outweighs its perceived social stigma. Approval of Amendment 20 will allow patients and their physicians greater autonomy for designing appropriate medical treatment.Opponents claim there is no thorough scientific or medical research to support the medical use of marijuana. This is disingenuous. In a 1999 study sponsored by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Institute of Medicine concluded that "marijuana is an effective treatment and is neither addictive nor a gateway drug." Other research is producing encouraging results and is readily available on the Internet and in peerreviewed medical journals. Scientists - like pharmaceutical compa nies that develop and distribute "orphan drugs" for rare diseases - have diligently studied and supported the use of medical marijuana for the sick and debilitated. The opposition refers to these pioneers as "quacks" and "charlatans." We Coloradans need to embrace progressive therapies instead of regressive and divisive rhetoric.Terminally ill and chronically debilitated patients pose a difficult dilemma for the entire community. The community must recognize the ethical dilemmas born of the inherent conflicts of interest between compassionate medical treatment and government drug laws. Both physicians and patients must be free to choose effective medical treatments without the misguided interventions of the state. If history has taught us anything, it is that disaster results when the government is involved in the day-to-day life of the individual.Indeed, the New England Journal of Medicine once described the restrictive federal policy toward patient and physician discussion on the use of medical marijuana as "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane." It is pure hypocrisy for the government to prevent physicians from prescribing marijuana while permitting the dissemination of far more dangerous drugs such as morphine. When it comes to dealing with the illness and suffering of our friends and families, doctors' autonomy from the state needs to be sacrosanct if they are to treat patients to the best of their abilities.Patients dealing with cancer and its treatments as well as those with AIDS often experience a "wasting" disorder resulting in nausea, which prevents them from keeping down even small amounts of food and, all too often, pills. For these patients, the anti-nausea benefits of smoked marijuana cannot be overstated.Dr. John P. Morgan, a professor of pharmacology at the New York Medical School, advises, "For people suffering from nausea and vomiting who are are unable to swallow and keep down a pill, smoking marijuana is often the only reliable way to deliver THC, the active chemical released in marijuana which has therapeutic value. For patients suffering nausea, smoking marijuana has the additional advantage of delivering THC quickly, providing relief in a few minutes, compared to an hour or more when THC is swallowed." In a 1990 survey of 432 clinical oncologists, 44 percent said that they had recommended smoking marijuana to some cancer patients.Some citizens fear that this initiative will lead to marijuana's widespread sale and misuse. This is not based in fact. The initiative does not overturn or negate effective state or federal laws restricting the sale, trafficking, distribution, manufacture or possession of marijuana. A patient may possess no more than 2 ounces of marijuana and a maximum of six plants. Possession of more and resale of a patient's medical marijuana can be prosecuted under existing law.Coloradans for Medical Rights has placed Amendment 20 on the November ballot to help physicians counteract disease and alleviate pain.The constitutional amendment will allow patients, after consultation with their physicians, to use marijuana in conjunction with traditional therapies to help leviate pain, treat nausea, and stimulate appetites. It will give physicians anoth er tool with which to continue the goal of improving their patients' quality of life.Patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic nervous system disorders or any other medical condition specified by a state health agency would will be eligible to receive certification from their physi cian. The decision on whether a particular patient would benefit from smoking marijuana is left to the patient, physician and family. Recreational marijuana use will remain illegal. Existing law will continue to prohibit marijuana use in public places. Certified patients must carry a registry identification card issued by the state health agency. Through this highly controlled and regulated system, only the legitimate, compassionate medical use of marijuana would be permitted.The First Clinical Conference on Therapeutic Cannabis was held in April at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center's School of Nursing to discuss the subject. Representatives from dozens of national and local professional or ganizations in the health-care field - including the American Public Health Association, Colorado Nursing Association, National Nurses Society on Addictions and the California Medical Association - support the therapeutic use of cannabis.We, the supporters of Amendment 20, have written to you, the citizens of Colorado, directly and truthfully about this initiative. Let us give our patients the option to use whatever means possible to ease their pain and suffering. It's the humane and right thing to do.Amendment 20 grants compassion and offers greater individual freedom and self-determination to patients, their families, and the medical community. Martin Chilcutt of Denver is a retired psyschologist, a cancer survivor and a former member of Coloradans for medical rights. He can be reached at: mchilcutt yahoo.comDr. Chris Ott os a Denver physician specializing in trauma and emergency medicine treatment. Direct Link To Articles:http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/per0910a.htmPublished: September 10, 2000Source: Denver Post (CO)Copyright: 2000 The Denver PostContact: letters denverpost.comAddress: 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202Fax: (303) 820.1502Website: http://www.denverpost.com/Forum: http://www.denverpost.com/voice/voice.htmRelated Articles & Web Sites:Coloradans For Medical Rights http://www.medicalmarijuana.com/Drug Policy Forum of Coloradohttp://www.drugsense.org/dpfco/Medical Marijuana Foes Irked http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6961.shtmlPersonal Becomes Political for MMJ Issue Advocatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6842.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #7 posted by freedom fighter on September 10, 2000 at 13:09:37 PT
A confession of a pot dealer
Yeah, I am that criminal you see on the street selling the devil weed. What I want to know is why my sick friends with AIDS, MS, broken bones come to me asking for some cannabis? Why would a guy with Aids would say," I have to smoke pot so I can live."? 
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Comment #6 posted by Thomas on September 10, 2000 at 10:04:58 PT
Coincidence?
Why is it that all of the essays arguing against cannabis initiatives and medical use are always written by a DA, an ex-DA, a city police chief, a goverment prosecutor, etc.? The only people that want the drug war are the people who have a vested interest.
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on September 10, 2000 at 09:13:04 PT:
The beam in Mr. Nortons' eye.
"It's almost as if they were reading from some book they bought from an info-mercial on;"How you can make thousands from the ondcp with anti-drug articles".4D, that was a goodie! A real zinger. I sometimes have wondered the same thing; do these goofs attend seminars (at our expense, of course) where they hear the lastest lame excuses for MMJ prohibition being touted as if they were something refreshingly original? Or do they get Sally Strothers-type correspondence courses that promise to make them instant experts or their money (which is, again, our money) back? Either way, we've not gotten our money's worth from these frips. But what always gets me is this: the dogged persistance of the antis, who, as the old saying goes, are of the number of the 'none so blind as those who will not see'. There's a line from the Good Book about the kind of behavior Mr. Norton and all antis of his particular bent are forever engaging in in. It has to do with finding fault with the vision of others because they have a dust speck in their eye, while you have a beam of wood sticking out of yours, blinding you completely.Someone should clue Mr. Norton in on one important fact: The Compassionate Use Program specifically supplies MMJ *cigarettes* to the remaining 8 members of that program. It comes in packages that have prescription labels on them that tells you exactly what it is, and what it is *prescribed for*. In short, the US Government, while proclaiming that MMJ has no use as a medicine, is dispensing it AS A MEDICINE.Not gelatin capsules with artificial THC and sesame oil in them. Not raw leaves to be brewed into a tea. Not powdered snuff to be stuck up your nostrils. Or rubbed into your belly button...or put where the sun don't shine. Or whatever. Not shaken. Not stirred. Smoked. And for good reason. It is simply the *fastest* way of conveying the 60 plus chemicals needed synergistically to evoke the herbs' medicinal properties into the body.Hold still, "Doctor" Norton; you got one Hell of a big plank sticking out of your eye. If you'll let me, I'll pull it out. Am I a Doctor? Nope. But then, you are endeavoring to practice medicine without a license, too; why can't I?
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Comment #4 posted by dddd on September 10, 2000 at 01:58:40 PT
Con
 Mr Nortons' con job is a good example of the best argument these people can come up with. Dont you get the feeling that people like Mr Norton,and all the others who write such things,are somehow not that convinced of their views?It's almost as if they were readfing from some book they bought from an info-mercial on;"How you can make thousands from the ondcp with anti-drug articles". I think it's getting rather obviously embarassing for the evil few,who are attempting to keep the fake-out going. Wanna get upset?...then just think about the number of people,who are keeping this absurd,anti-marijuana bullshit going,,,and compare it to the number of citizens who have spoken,or voted in favor of marijuana legalization. This is frightful,to say the least,,that this small,entrenched group of dishonourable demagogs,can continue to defy the will of a huge segment of the People. Ideally,this would be seen by the people,as a harbinger of future decay,and czarist insanity encroaching further on what is supposed to be a democracy. It seems like not many people really know,or care now days........dddd
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Comment #3 posted by Michael Bragg on September 09, 2000 at 23:04:16 PT:
Sad story  Sad day
To be straight forward here, I don't even think that we should have to vote on this issue. Who has the right to tell us what we can and can't do to our own bodies as long as we don't step on anyone else's toes? We only have to answer to our Creator, not to this sick, perverse government, that would rather stick us all in prisons in order to gain complete control instead of feeding the starving, warming the homeless, or educating our children. I almost hate waking up in the mornings to Colunbia "The next Vietnam", the humorous "War on Drugs" while all along, the CIA is pumping more cocaine into this country than the Columbians could ever imagine, and "Echilon, Carnivore, and the Digital Angel" all devices that will allow the government to keep an "eye" on us. To all of you that live in Colorado.....VOTE YES!!! Help the rest of us. Show the U.S. Government that we are tired of thier control, tired of thier harrassment, and just plain tired of them!Ok, someone else can have my soap box now, lol.
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Comment #2 posted by i_rule_ on September 09, 2000 at 22:03:28 PT:
Sad story.
The only sad story I see is the one you just posted, Norton.You abviously have never been high. You obviously have never been sick to the extent you would try anything for relief. And you abviously have been looking in the wrong places for the truth about Marijuana. The people you say oppose legal marijuana, only do so because they don't have the medical research proof that marijuana is good medicine. But that will come. What is wrong with telling children marijuana is good medicine? You have been telling them for years that it is right to incarcerate, ostracize, demonize, and otherwise destroy an innocent persons life, regardless of age, for the simple attempt to find relief from stress, relief from pain, pursuuit of enlightenment, and quite possibly happiness from the theraputic and spiritual affects of marijuana. You, sir, are nothing but a liar and a believer of untruths. Your kind will go down in history books as being sadistic and oppressive. So what if legalizing medical marijuana is a step toward legal, casual, use? The world will be on a path toward truth and out from under the demonic hold of prohibition. I hope voters everywhere, not just in Colorado, will vote to legalize the plant of life. The only plant on the face of the earth with the power to solve most of the major problems that face the world today. But I know your narrow mind, Norton, cannot comprehend this. So go back in your dark little corner, and let the people of Colorado who are not so stupid, vote for Amendment 20, and get the show on the road for other states to follow. I really feel sorry for people with minds so narrow. It must be painful.  
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Comment #1 posted by observer on September 09, 2000 at 21:47:13 PT
Ask Your Doc
I'm not sure that the "ask your doctor" argument does too much for the "Con" side.Con: Smoked marijuana is medically unnecessary. Ask your doctor.Pro: . . . Chris Ott, M.D.(Maybe the good ex-federal prosecutor meant to say, "ask a NIDA doctor" or "ask an ONDCP" doctor. Maybe that's what he means by "your doctor". They tend to be more obedient to the wishes of other federal bureaucrats.)Was there no mention of incarceration there? I think that the Pro side needs to hammer away at the injustice of jailing sick folks (like Todd McCormick for example), just because they want to use cannabis.
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