Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 Source: State Journal-Register (IL) Copyright: 2011 The State Journal-Register Contact: http://service.sj-r.com/forms/letters.asp Website: http://www.sj-r.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/425 Author: Joan Bellm LET FDA DECIDE MARIJUANA ISSUE It has come to my attention that, although legislation promoting smoking marijuana and calling it "medicine" was defeated in November 2010 and again last Thursday, it may be called for another vote very soon. Pot proponents never seem to take no for an answer. There are more than 20,000 scientific studies on marijuana/cannabis and none of them have shown crude marijuana to be good for anything, certainly not medicine. To safely "prescribe" a medicine, the strength, purity, effectiveness, proper dose for a specific medical condition, and its interaction with other medications must be known. Common sense tells us that it is impossible to meet these safety requirements by smoking a substance. Medicine must not be based on anecdotal accounts of benefits, but on peer-reviewed, scientific research. Using the same criteria applied to all other drugs, the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly rejected crude marijuana for medical use. Many have no idea of how dangerous the use of marijuana can be. Recent studies have shown that it is a huge factor in causing and exacerbating various kinds of psychosis. Have you considered that the shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was reported to be a marijuana smoker? Are you aware that more teens now smoke marijuana than tobacco cigarettes? Why? Teens themselves say that it's safe - "because it's medicine." Legislators are not doctors or researchers. They are politicians and have no business suggesting that sick people should smoke a weed and call it "medicine." Circumventing the FDA drug-approval process would be irresponsible and endanger public health and safety. Joan Bellm Carlinville - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom