Pubdate: Sun, 22 Mar 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Authors: Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk

IS AMERICA READY FOR MEDICAL POT?

A bipartisan trio of U.S. senators - New Jersey's Cory Booker, New 
York's Kirsten Gillibrand and Kentucky's Rand Paul - are sponsoring a 
bill to classify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, meaning the federal 
government would allow it be used as medicine.

Some critics worry that such a bill could become a "gateway law" to 
full legalization of recreational weed; defenders say sick patients 
need the pain relief best provided by marijuana.

Should the bill get approval? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the 
RedBlueAmerica columnists, debate the issue.

Ben Boychuk: FULL LEGALIZATION THE REAL ISSUE

Medical marijuana should be a serious matter of public policy. Our 
medical marijuana laws, however, are a joke.

In 1996, Californians passed the Compassionate Use Act, the first 
state medical marijuana law in the nation. Proponents sold the 
measure as a matter of offering relief to patients with terminal 
illnesses. The week before the November election that year, ads 
featuring a nurse describing her husband's struggle with cancer and 
her efforts to ease his suffering with cannabis blanketed the 
airwaves. Such emotional appeals tugged heartstrings and moved voters 
- - the ballot measure passed with a solid 55 percent of the vote. 
California eventually came to lead the nation in moving public 
opinion to favor medicinal marijuana. But what became clear very 
quickly was just how expansive the definition of "medical necessity" can be.

Yes, marijuana really can help AIDS and cancer patients, as well as 
people with glaucoma. And depending on whom you ask, marijuana can 
help with virtually every other ailment known to man. But legislators 
and policymakers should recognize medical marijuana for what it is, 
not what its supporters want to pretend it is.

Path-breaking laws in California, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and 19 other 
states and the District of Columbia have made it easier for gravely 
ill people to have some relief. But those laws have also led to a 
kind of de facto legalization. It was a very small step for voters 
Colorado and Washington to embrace legalization without the patina of 
medical respectability. Set aside the heartwrenching appeals and 
genuflections to medical science. The debate we should be having is 
about the costs and consequences of legalization simply.

Joel Mathis: OPPONENTS STUCK IN THE PAST

Yes, it's true: Drugs used to treat pain or relieve the symptoms of 
disease can often be used for recreational purposes.

That's true of marijuana. It's also true of OxyContin, Valium and 
Ritalin - three of the most-abused drugs in America - yet no one is 
trying to ban them from sale, or prohibit doctors from using their 
best judgment in prescribing them to patients.

The difference between marijuana and those lab-created drugs? 
Marijuana is probably safer. You can't really overdose on it, after all.

"In absolute terms, states with a medical marijuana law had about 
1,700 fewer opioid painkiller overdose deaths overall in 2010 alone 
than would be expected based on trends before the laws were passed," 
Colleen L. Barry, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School 
of Public Health in Baltimore, testified last year. "... Our study 
indicates an important unintended benefit of state medical marijuana laws."

What does medical marijuana get us? Probable pain relief for those 
who need it. Reduced deaths for those who might rely on pills to get 
by. And, it seems, a few more "Reefer Madness" fantasies. How sad. How silly.

And how antiquated. Twenty-three states have already passed medical 
marijuana laws. The issue has the backing of both Republicans and 
Democrats, who agree on little else these days. Prohibition usually 
hurts more than it helps. Let's get this new bill passed, and quickly.

Tribune News Service
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom