Pubdate: Mon, 25 Jun 2001
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright: 2001 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Contact:  http://www.telegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/509

SMOKESCREEN

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that there is no exception in 
federal law that would allow people suffering from serious illnesses to use 
illegal drugs, advocates of so-called "medical marijuana" should turn their 
attention toward development of a pharmaceutical form of the drug.

Advocates claim smoking marijuana can ease side effects from chemotherapy, 
alleviate nausea in AIDS patients and give multiple sclerosis sufferers 
greater mobility. However, there is no definitive medical evidence of the 
drug's supposed curative effects. And while a marijuana buzz might mask 
symptoms, it is not demonstrably better than, or even as effective as 
conventional, legal treatments.

More to the point, the debate about possible medical uses for marijuana has 
always been largely a smokescreen sent up by advocates of legalization of 
pot and other drugs for recreational use.

That said, the cannabis plant itself may have pharmaceutical applications. 
Researchers at UMass-Memorial Medical Center have derived a chemical from 
marijuana that may have therapeutic value without pot's psychotropic 
properties. The drug seems to have no ill effects, but its medicinal value 
has yet to be established.

If the goal of medical marijuana advocates is to help people with 
debilitating diseases, rather than to promote recreational drug use, they 
should lobby for the development of a legal marijuana derivative. 
Uncontrolled private distribution of the illegal form of the drug is not 
good medicine, good science or good law.
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MAP posted-by: Beth