Pubdate: Thu, 18 Nov 2010
Source: Minnesota Daily (U of MN,  Minneapolis, MN Edu)
Copyright: 2010 Minnesota Daily
Contact:  http://www.mndaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1280
Author: Chelsey Johnson

RETHINKING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

This debate over the legalization of marijuana is getting old. If you 
take a look at states with legalized medical marijuana, it's pretty 
evident that it can easily be cheated.

Under California law, you don't even need a prescription to gain 
access to the medical marijuana dispensaries. All you need is a 
written or oral recommendation from a physician. The medical 
marijuana is not regulated by FDA standards. For obvious reasons, the 
FDA must do extensive testing on drugs hitting the market in case the 
drugs are potentially harmful or ineffective.

The people who use medical marijuana are at the risk of their 
"caregivers" for quality of product. According to NORML, the 
pro-medical marijuana organization, only 22 percent of California 
medical marijuana users suffer from an AIDS-related disease. The 
majority of the rest have subjective disorders like "chronic pain."

Unless this system is reformed, I'd say it's a joke. The U.S. has a 
lot bigger problems than the legalization of marijuana, so advocates 
should read up on some of those issues and rally in support of 
something that is more pressing to our nation.

By Chelsey Johnson - University student
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom