Pubdate: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) Copyright: 2010 The Arizona Republic Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/3pj8PiYF Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24 JUST SAY 'NO' TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA Arizona's medical-marijuana initiative is a bad idea wrapped in a cloak of compassion. The sales pitch is that pot should be legally available to relieve the suffering of severely ill patients. But the medical argument, whatever its merits, is a smokescreen. Proposition 203 is written to allow widespread use of marijuana. It's a backdoor route to legalization without any consideration of the repercussions. Under the initiative, patients with debilitating medical conditions would be allowed to use a limited amount of marijuana obtained from a non-profit dispensary (or, if the distance is 25 miles or more, grown at home). The qualifying conditions include severe and chronic pain - which cannot be tested and is based on a patient's self-reporting. The experience of other states that have approved similar measures is instructive. In Montana, it took a reporter eight minutes to get a doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana. With a population of 975,000, the state has 23,500 people who have been authorized to use medical marijuana. The vast majority cited pain. The medical argument doesn't wash with the Arizona Department of Health Services, which points out that the Food and Drug Administration hasn't tested marijuana for safety or effectiveness. Even though more than a dozen other states have legalized medical marijuana, it is poor public policy to set up a system for prescribing and using a substance that is still illegal under federal law, with no standards for dosage or use. Proposition 203 would also wreak havoc with efforts to promote drug-free workplaces because employers would be prohibited from taking action against an employee who tested positive for medical marijuana. Law-enforcement officials from around Arizona oppose the initiative, fearing the kind of cottage industry of cannabis that sprang up in California. The allowance of 2.5 ounces every two weeks, they note, is enough for 200 joints. Are we really talking about medication or recreation? The prime sponsor of the Arizona initiative is the Washington, D.C.- based Marijuana Policy Project, whose vision is "a nation where marijuana is legally regulated similarly to alcohol." The group is pushing California's current initiative to legalize pot outright. Maybe Arizonans want to have that discussion. If so, it should be forthright and open. Not disguised. Voters should reject medical marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt