Pubdate: Tue, 03 Oct 2000
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2000 St. Petersburg Times
Section: Page 8A
Contact:  http://www.sptimes.com/
Forum: http://www.sptimes.com/Interact.html
Author: Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune columnist

BLOWING SMOKE ABOUT MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON - Until now, I have admired Al Gore's candor on the marijuana 
question.

After all, he is the first presidential candidate to admit not only that he 
smoked marijuana but also that he inhaled it.

His boss, President Clinton, confessed during his 1992 campaign to smoking 
the wicked weed in his youth but insisted that he "didn't inhale." That's 
like saying you subscribe to Playboy for the articles. Maybe he enjoyed 
that distinctive marijuana smell, which is sort of like burning socks.

On the Republican side, Texas Gov. George W. Bush simply has avoided 
talking about anything naughty he might have done in the first three 
decades or so of his life. That is his right. Besides, no one can accuse 
you of lying if you don't say anything at all.

No, it is not the candidates' private lives from decades past, but their 
public positions at present that should concern us now.

With that, I find it informative to see how the first two baby boomers from 
major parties to face each other in a presidential election dance around 
the issue of medicinal marijuana.

It is informative because medicinal marijuana is what many Washington 
politicians call a "third rail" issue - touch it and you die!

Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney have tried to avoid saying much on 
the issue, except that they "support states' rights" but also will 
"vigorously enforce" federal laws. That's a prudent, pragmatic position in 
the midst of a stormy and divisive political issue. That's also called 
having it both ways.

Gore, too, tries to have it both ways, although at different times. When he 
was asked by a young MTV audience member last week whether he supported the 
legalization of marijuana for medicinal use, the vice president responded 
that he did not. Current research, he said, does not show marijuana to be 
any more effective at relieving the pain and misery of cancer patients and 
others than less controversial methods.

I wondered what research he had been reading. A 1999 Institute of Medicine 
report commissioned by the Clinton-Gore administration, for example, found 
marijuana to be effective enough to be recommended for short-term use of up 
to six months by some seriously ill patients.

More than six months posed health risks, not because of the active 
ingredients, known as cannabinoids, but because of the respiratory damage 
smoking anything can cause.

Gore's response sounded all the more amazing when compared to his position 
during the primaries. When he was running against Bill Bradley and 
appealing to Democrats, he sounded a lot more open to the idea of letting 
doctors prescribe marijuana.

In a televised forum in Den-y, N.H., last December. Gore poignantly 
recalled how his late sister's doctor prescribed marijuana for her before 
she died of cancer in 1984. She refused to take it, he said, but, "If it 
had worked for her, then I think she should have had the ability to get her 
pain relieved that way."

"I do not favor legalizing marijuana," he said, according to Associated 
Press reports. "But where you have sufficient controls, I think doctors 
ought to have that option."

Right on. And he was not alone. So far, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, 
Arizona, Nevada, Maine and the District of Columbia have passed voter 
initiatives to allow patients in need to have the choice that was offered 
to Al Gore's sister.

Hawaii's legislature passed such a law and its governor signed it in April. 
Colorado votes on a similar measure in November and supporters say its 
chances look good. None of the state ballot efforts for medicinal marijuana 
has failed, so far.

But the Clinton administration stands fast in its anti-marijuana position. 
After Gore's statement, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart maintained that, 
"We don't have conclusive scientific evidence that marijuana provides a 
therapeutic benefit that exceeds currently prescribed drugs."

And, presto! By May, the White House position became Al Gore's position, 
too. Answering a student in Cudahy, Calif., on May 11, Gore said he sees 
"no reliable evidence" that medical marijuana is an effective pain reliever.

Yes, it is interesting to see how quickly reliability can fade in the midst 
of an election campaign - right along with candor.

Or maybe there's some truth, after all, to the rumors about early marijuana 
use causing late-life memory loss.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager