cannabisnews.com: Straight Dope on Medical Marijuana 





Straight Dope on Medical Marijuana 
Posted by FoM on April 03, 2001 at 10:01:34 PT
Letters To The Editor
Source: WorldNetDaily
I'm sorry, Mr. Feder, but you need to get yourself a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Although I don't use marijuana, nor condone it's use, I do understand that the federal government has absolutely no constitutional authority to override what is essentially a "states' rights" issue. The only possible exception that you could conceivably use in your argument is the "Interstate Commerce" clause of Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, but that is not sufficient enough to deny individual usage of marijuana, or any drug for that matter. 
The Constitution gives the federal government no authority over the area of drug use by individual citizens. Therefore, the 10th amendment applies, and the "problem" (as you see it) is reserved to the states, or to the people. Since some of the states have spoken in favor of "medical marijuana," and made it law, the federal government has no authority to supercede them. Jerry Dunn Prescription for Laughter: Mr. Feder: Why doesn't America criminalize the use of tobacco and alcohol (again)? Cigarette-related disease kills almost half a million people each year, and drinking-related illness claims more than 100,000 lives annually. In addition, nicotine and alcohol are as addictive, if not more, than THC in marijuana. And while we're at it, lets criminalize the consumption of fatty foods as well. Think of all the heart attacks we'd prevent! Conservatives such as yourself are so ridiculous, but fortunately, I like to laugh. I personally believe recreational drug use is unhealthy and immoral, but government doesn't work. JT Take 2 Hits, Call Me in the Morning: I am a supporter of medical marijuana. I believe that marijuana should and must be categorized as a medical pharmaceutical, just like heroin and morphine. Sir, I do not mean to attack you or your ideas; I just ask that you please stop and think for a minute and please apply some common sense to this issue without getting it tangled up in ideology and propaganda. First, marijuana is proven to the best nauseous controlling "medication" for those going through chemotherapy. Unless you personally live with someone going through chemotherapy and have seen the horrors of this treatment with its side effects, then please go spend a week, day in and day out in a hospital, witnessing the ravages of this treatment. If you think it is bad for adults, imagine what this does to children. May I recommend that you go visit, for a week, non-stop, a children's cancer ward I am not trying to be mean or rude to you, I'm just trying to prove a fact. Those pharmaceutical industry approved "nauseous controlling pill" are a joke! They do not work, let alone anywhere near as well as marijuana in giving cancer patience's the ability to want to eat. You say that "Marijuana is a narcotic," duh, so is heroin, morphine, and all the other "prescribed" medically necessary medications given out by the thousands daily all over this country. Some of those thousands receiving doctor-approved prescriptions are children! The only difference is that marijuana can be grown in my backyard and the medical and pharmaceutical industries in this country cannot charge me hundreds of dollars for a joint! That is why marijuana is looked down upon by those oh 'so concerned' self-serving medical-based institutions. Money, money, money. They want the control. Marijuana is hard to control. You cite statistics for juvenile pot use, yet I do not see you citing statistics for Ritalin or Prozac use by juveniles as young as 2 years old now! Morphine is an addictive narcotic yet thousands of people are medically prescribed morphine everyday. Why? Because it is allowable to legally drug our children with acceptable, pharmaceutical-company-approved narcotics that we do not even have any long-term data as to serious side effects in young children when they become adults? Over long-term usage what do those two drugs -- Prozac and Ritalin -- do to children's brain and liver functions? Dependency? What about a child from the age of two being on Ritalin or Prozac, for five, 10 or 15 years, do to them? Could their brains and bodies rewire themselves to function without Ritalin or Prozac? What about the dosage; does that keep getting increased as the child matures? Do we even know the answer to those questions? Do we care? Ritalin and Prozac are OK to give to our children because the drug companies tell us so? This is not abuse -- no, no, this is drug-company-approved and controlled, OK. Yeah. Um, isn't this a double standard? You know, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and now Generation Rx! As long as it is on the "approved for medical use" list only? Marijuana can be used as a medicine; it also can be abused as a drug, just like heroin, morphine, Ritalin, Prozac, ecstasy, speed, uppers, downers, LSD, acid, etc. You do not see the medical and the pharmaceutical communities demanding that all those other drugs, that could be and are abused, be removed from medical use do you? Please, ask "why?" You wrote that "Ian Katz died of an overdose at age 20." He died of an overdose of heroin, not marijuana! Why are you not writing about the removal of heroin as a medical drug instead of marijuana? As for that anti-marijuana five-second sound bite you put fourth: "'Just say no to medicine' is not an effective slogan." Just how do you describe heroin, morphine, Prozac, Ritalin, etc.? That argument is not used for them. Why? They are medicines aren't they? See what I mean about common sense and propaganda? Heroin, Ritalin, morphine, Prozac, marijuana are all medically necessary drugs. It is just that marijuana can be grown in our backyard and certain people and companies cannot force outrages price costs on people, where as the others must be "made" in an "industry-approved" pharmaceutical company's "drug lab" and then they charge people hundreds of dollars for 20 pills needed to prolong, save or reduce the pain people suffer from every day. I am sorry, Mr. Feder; this is all about propaganda and who controls the supply and cost, i.e. money. This is not about children and drug use. The ability to write prescriptions for Prozac and morphine for children as young as 2 years old, should prove that fact to you if nothing else will. C. Carroll Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web)Published: Monday, April 3, 2001Copyright: 2001, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.Contact: letters worldnetdaily.comWebsite: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/Related Article:Court Should Cancel Prescription for Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9240.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by what on April 06, 2001 at 08:17:29 PT
this
why why why whymoney money money money moneyyou know weed is good for a lot of things, but because of the old "money" and "power" trips, there is little chance of freedom for us. If we ever ARE free in this world, then that will be the day where we can do what we want without the risk of some terrible human being trying to ban nature to make some dough.all in all, if there is a such thing as "evil", then the federal government is a good example of "evil"
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Comment #4 posted by myron on April 03, 2001 at 16:46:15 PT
Heroin is CSA-I
C.Carroll had a great letter, but heroin is not a medically prescribed drug, it is CSA-I "no medical use whatsoever and high abuse potential".The anti's will read this and totally ignore the valid references to Ritalin and Morphine. Sure wish heroin wasn't plastered all over those examples, it detracts from those very valid points.
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Comment #3 posted by Rambler on April 03, 2001 at 14:36:13 PT
head trauma
Indeed,C.Carroll gives the nail a concussion.
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Comment #2 posted by kalib on April 03, 2001 at 12:44:51 PT
simple correction
It should be stated that a Marijuana is not a "Narcotic." It is a different class of drug -- one that actually doesn't fit into any single drug category. To be a Narcotic(comes from the Greek -- "to sleep") a drug must be from the Species Papaver Somniferm(sp?) which is the Opium Poppy. This simple mistake causes a lot of problems too, such as "Narcotics Division" of police, which isn't just about opium and its related drugs(Morphine, Cortizone, Heroin, Dextromorthan Hydrobromide(Cough Syrup), etc.)
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Comment #1 posted by Jeaneous on April 03, 2001 at 12:00:58 PT:
WOW!!
What wonderful words!! The truth at the core. C. Carroll hit the nail on the head. Great letter.
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