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CONGRESS SHOULD ACT ON CANNABIS

If you believe state Sen.  Mike Folmer, some medical professionals are erring on the side of caution when it comes to medical marijuana.  Twenty-three states already allow the medicinal use of cannabis, and, according to Folmer, there are doctors in Pennsylvania eager to prescribe it.

The benefits are clear, the risks are low - and for some patients it's their last best chance for relief.

Yet some in the medical field are hesitant to throw their support behind medical marijuana legalization efforts in Pennsylvania - such as House Bill 193 and Folmer's Senate Bill 3 - because of the drug's classification at the federal level.

Marijuana currently is listed as a Schedule 1 drug, among the most dangerous and with no accepted medical use.

As we've noted before, that classification was made in error in 1972, when the Nixon administration disregarded the findings of the president's own blue-ribbon National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse.

Chaired by former Pennsylvania Gov.  Raymond Shafer, the commission found, after two years of study, "Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety."

Despite the misclassification, marijuana is gradually gaining acceptance for medicinal use.

The Justice Department signaled in 2013 it would not challenge those states that allow doctors to prescribe marijuana, and late last year Congress gave tacit approval.

Lawmakers passed a spending bill that included a provision forbidding the Department of Justice from using any of those funds to prosecute the "use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana" in states where it is legal

Yet the drug remains listed among the most dangerous - alongside heroin, LSD, mescaline and other powerful drugs.  And that appears to be too much of a stigma for some doctors.

"Because it is a Schedule I drug, there's just a lot of ( doctors ) who, on the record, will be very shy about it and careful about it," said Folmer, a Republican who represents parts of Pennsylvania.

We tend to agree with Folmer, a cancer survivor and one of Pennsylvania's most outspoken proponents of medical marijuana.

It seems to us opiates are far more dangerous than marijuana.  While reporting a recent series on the heroin epidemic, we heard many stories about addicts who first became hooked on powerful prescription drugs.

Yet doctors have no problem prescribing them when a patient's needs outweigh the risks.

Besides the stigma, marijuana's classification as a Schedule 1 drug also officially precludes any medical research that might allay some physicians' concerns.

All this could change if an ongoing, bipartisan effort to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug succeeds in Congress.

Hopefully, it succeeds - and quickly.

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Marijuana remains listed among the most dangerous - alongside heroin, LSD, mescaline and other powerful drugs.  And that appears to be too much of a stigma for some doctors.