Pubdate: Sun, 06 Dec 2009
Source: Reading Eagle-Times (PA)
Copyright: 2009 Reading Eagle Company
Contact:  http://www.readingeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1399
Author: John Forester
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA JUST A SMOKE SCREEN

The Pennsylvania Legislature is considering legalizing
marijuana.

Well, not really.

Last week, the House Health and Human Services  Committee held a
hearing on a bill that would allow the  use of marijuana for medical
reasons.

The hearing on the bill, sponsored by Rep. Mark Cohen,  a Philadelphia
Democrat, was probably the last time  you'll see any action on H.B.
1393. With only seven  co-sponsors the bill seems doomed.

Even if, by some miraculous chance, it would see the  floor of the
House, it wouldn't pass. And if the  inconceivable happens, the bill
would die in the  GOP-controlled Senate.

Why? Are Pennsylvania lawmakers really that uncool?  Unhip? Uptight?
Yes, all of the above. But that has  nothing to do with why this
proposal is headed for  legislative limbo.

The medical marijuana bill is a flawed idea that even  our lawmakers
won't buy into.

The bill, which cites only one medical journal article,  claims ganja
is useful for anybody with a very long  list of diseases, conditions
and symptoms.

Trouble is, no medical authority recognizes marijuana  as being an
effective treatment for any condition.

There are some very ill people who believe marijuana  eases their
symptoms. But those who would benefit most  from legalization are
people who want to get high  without getting busted.

Advocates say the bill would benefit government  financially. It would
require the places that sell  medical pot, called compassion centers,
to collect  state sales tax. The problem with that is that
prescription medications are exempt from the sales tax.

So, ipso facto, if it's taxed, pot isn't medicine.

But the big problem is with federal drug laws that list  marijuana as
a Schedule I drug, meaning it has no  legitimate medical use.

The conflict between states and the feds over  regulation rights has
been fought several times over  several issues, including drugs. The
feds won.

Thirteen states now have some sort of medical marijuana  law. But the
legal status of pot is fuzzy in all of  them and some "patients" end
up as jailed inmates.

Medical marijuana is a ruse. If lawmakers believe it  can do more good
than harm, there's only one thing to  do:

Legalize it. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D