Pubdate: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 2010 Journal Sentinel Inc. Contact: http://www.jsonline.com/general/30627794.html Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/265 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n718/a02.html Author: Charles Wood MEDICAL MARIJUANA WHAT THEY WANT IS LEGALIZATION I was intrigued by the letter from Gary Storck of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (Your opinions, Sept. 3). He wrote that the reason people are leaving Wisconsin is due to our lawmakers failing to pass legislation allowing medical marijuana. Really? I testified in Madison last December about how medical marijuana is a sham. But among the reasons cited in favor of it, there was no mention of people leaving Wisconsin for this product. Wisconsin has medical marijuana. Doctors can prescribe Marinol for their patients, but they rarely do because marijuana is a relatively poor painkiller. Please stop hiding behind those who are sick to achieve your goal, which is to smoke marijuana legally. Doctors have the option of treating pain with measured, studied, safely manufactured medicines. Marijuana has inconsistent THC levels, aggravates lung tissues, contains carcinogens and often is laced with pesticide. How is medical marijuana working? In San Diego, Calif., medical marijuana customers are mostly 18- to 25-year-old males; in Colorado the explosive number of pot shops that have opened has strained local government resources. In Oregon, a few unscrupulous doctors travel the state and write marijuana prescriptions for about $50 each after they determine a patient needs pain relief. Time of examination? Sixty to 90 seconds. It is likely that because those fighting to legalize marijuana have attached the word "medical" to their fight, further debate will occur. Let us hope that physicians, pharmacists, scientists, law enforcement and community leaders are involved in those discussions so that we do not get hoodwinked the way 14 other states did, which now wish they had not approved medical marijuana. Capt. Charles Wood Metropolitan Drug Unit Commander, Waukesha County President, Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association Waukesha - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake