Pubdate: Mon, 09 Oct 2000
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2000 Cox Interactive Media.
Contact: Journal:   Constitution:  http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
Forum: http://www.accessatlanta.com/community/forums/
Author: Clarence Page, Washington-based columnist for The Chicago Tribune.

GORE FORGETFUL ON POT POSITION

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 recently 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 Derry, 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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