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REBUTTAL TO MARIJUANA ARTICLE BY JEFFREY A.  MIRON

Harms Of Marijuana Are Real And Medically Established

This is a rebuttal of the reply by Jeffrey A.  Miron to my article on marijuana in the January 2000 Massachusetts News. 

I agree with Mr.  Miron that "the literature on marijuana is vast and contains at least one or two studies that appear to support almost any view." Why is this so? We are bombarded by propaganda on marijuana funded by vast sums from the drug cartels, which is designed to support their cocaine and heroin products.  This confusion is augmented by naïve individuals who are blindly repeating the propaganda. 

Miron claims that this newspaper is not an appropriate forum to debate the scientific facts of marijuana.  He says that we should listen to the "experts." I object.  In this field which is dominated by drug money and by confused people who are caught in drug dependence, the wise parents should examine the evidence on marijuana themselves.  When one studies the information on marijuana carefully, it is easy to find where the truth lies. 

'Disguised Propaganda' From Drug Cartels

Hundreds of billions of dollars are made each year in the cocaine and heroin drug trade.  The drug cartels are very sophisticated, and so we can expect that they are spending enormous sums in disguised advertising and influence to support their products.  The drug cartels know that marijuana is the stepping stone leading to cocaine and heroin addiction.  As long as they can convince innocent kids to play around with marijuana, they know that a significant number will eventually graduate to cocaine and heroin, and thereby will provide a continual supply of addicts to support their drug trade. 

Marijuana is radically different in this respect from alcohol.  Countless studies since the 1960's have continually shown that of those who have used alcohol but not marijuana, practically no one has used cocaine or heroin.  Of those who smoke marijuana at least once a week, about half have taken cocaine or heroin. 

Pot smokers know that the chemical effect of marijuana on the body is very different from alcohol.  When a regular marijuana user quits smoking pot, he can test positive to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, for more than a month after he quits.  The reason for this is that THC dissolves readily in fat, and so is stored for many weeks in the fatty tissues of the body.  Consequently, marijuana is very slow acting.  It is highly potent but appears to be mild because it works so slowly. 

Kids play around with pot because it superficially seems to be harmless.  However THC steadily builds up in the body fat, and slowly drags them into a state of continual sedation.  Their minds become so confused that many of them eventually graduate into cocaine and heroin addiction.  The drug cartels understand this, and are obviously spending large sums of money to keep the marijuana issue confused.  As long as many kids believe that marijuana is relatively harmless, their drug profits are guaranteed. 

Scientific Evidence Against Marijuana

The National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA ) was set up by the federal government to sponsor drug abuse research.  During the 1970's NIDA sponsored excellent research on marijuana, which proved it to be very harmful. 

Our knowledge concerning marijuana reached a pinnacle in July 1978, at an international symposium on the Biological Effects of Marijuana, which was held in Reims, France.  The proceedings of this prestigious symposium, which was part of the 7th Congress of the International Union of Pharmacological Sciences, are published in Marijuana, Biological Effects, Gabriel G.  Nahas and Sir.  William D.  M.  Paton, editors. 

It gives extensive, scientific proof that marijuana is very harmful.  The most frightening evidence is the report by Dr.  Robert Heath of Tulane University on his experiments of the effect of marijuana on the monkey brain.  As I reported in my earlier article, these very thorough studies showed that the consumption of moderate amounts of marijuana by the monkeys severely damaged their brain cells and their brain waves generated deeply in the brain. 

If the scientific evidence against marijuana was so clear in 1978, why does it appear to be confused today? Have more recent studies refuted any of this evidence? Of course not.  The public is generally unaware of this evidence because it has been buried. 

In the late 1970's, new leadership took control of NIDA, and the excellent marijuana research was cancelled.  Since about 1980, essentially no meaningful research concerning marijuana has been supported by NIDA. 

In 1988, the White House sponsored a conference to discuss means of improving our effectiveness in fighting drugs, which was called the White House Conference for a Drug-Free America.  The final report of this conference is given in Final Report, the White House Conference for a Drug-Free America, June 1988, Library of Congress.  On page 146, the final report made the following recommendation:

"Recommendation 7: An independent evaluation of the National Institute on Drug Abuse should be conducted."

No action was ever taken on this recommendation. 

Standard of Evidence

In 1980, when NIDA cancelled the tremendous research of Dr.  Robert Heath, it justified its action with the statement that this research applies only to monkeys, and we do not know that it applies to humans.  NIDA has adopted the philosophy that marijuana is innocent until unequivocally proven guilty.  This same philosophy underlies the vast body of so-called "research" that Mr.  Miron quotes in his article.  If medical science used this same standard of evidence relative to other substances, it would know nothing. 

Miron charges that my evidence on marijuana is highly skewed.  In rebuttal I submit the scientific studies in the international symposium, published in 1979.  This is a prestigious document which proves conclusively that marijuana is very harmful.  For reasons that I have explained, very little scientific marijuana research of substance has been supported since 1980, and so I must refer back to this 1979 document as my primary standard of evidence on marijuana. 

Protecting Kids From Drugs

We are surrounded by countless tragedies caused by the drug abuse of our young people.  No parent should be complacent.  All parents should take the time to examine the facts of marijuana themselves so that their children will not be among the casualties. 

Scientific evidence has clearly proven that marijuana is very harmful in and of itself.  It is probably our most dangerous drug because it is so deceptive.  Since it works slowly over many weeks, the user is rarely aware of the damage it is causing.  As THC gradually builds up in the body, marijuana seductively lures the user into a confused dream world.  The marijuana smoked today is all the more destructive, because it contains ten times as much THC as in the 1960's.