Pubdate: Wed, 06 Dec 2000
Source: Record, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Record
Contact:  P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201
Fax: (209) 547-8186
Website: http://www.recordnet.com/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

WRONG PRESCRIPTION

Supreme Court Has Chance To Make Sure Medical Pot Goes Through Proper Hoops

When Proposition 215 was passed in California four years ago, many 
predicted the issue of marijuana-as-medicine would eventually reach the 
U.S. Supreme Court.

It has.

Last week, the justices agreed -- in the midst of hearing arguments on the 
presidential stalemate -- to weigh in on a somewhat smaller matter: whether 
an Oakland cannabis club should be allowed to distribute marijuana as a 
"medical necessity." A ruling is expected by June.

The high court has an opportunity to step in and stop California's latest 
cottage industry before further legitimacy and momentum takes hold.

It won't be an easy decision for this court, which in recent years has 
ruled more frequently for states' rights than not. The dilemma is whether 
to side with California or U.S. regulatory powers (both Clinton and 
Congress are waging war on illegal drugs).

Proposition 215 has opened up a host of problems, creating a new California 
industry that plants, cultivates, harvests and distributes Cannabis sative 
(marijuana). It does so largely without regulation.

As we said in 1996 urging voters to reject this initiative: If there is a 
proper medical use -- and the evidence of that is at best conflicting -- it 
should be handled like any other drug.

For us, that remains the heart of this issue. As long as pot is possessed 
and grown for anything, according to the initiative "for which marijuana 
provides relief," it is ripe for abuse, open to recreational purposes and 
sends the wrong message to young people.

This is not to say we don't recognize the potential for pot's medicinal 
value, but the answer will not be found in loose-knit, unregulated, 
statewide cooperatives. It will be found in research laboratories and 
hospitals. It needs to be administered in a different form than smoking and 
under a doctor's strict prescription plan.

Marijuana should be handled like any other FDA-approved drug -- not unlike 
today's restrictive, case-by-case use of morphine or even Marinol (a 
synthetic form of pot).

Unless new criteria is met, California's cannabis clubs, undoubtedly 
meeting the needs of many sufferers, will be ripe for misuse and fraudulent 
claims.

However loathe to strike down a state initiative, the Supreme Court surely 
will see the larger problem of creating federal law that promotes use of an 
illegal drug in a loosely regulated fashion.
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MAP posted-by: Terry F