Pubdate: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Copyright: 1998 Mercury Center Author: Thomas J. Macdonald MEDICINAL MARIJUANA A HOAX JOANNE Jacobs' support of medicinal marijuana (Opinion, Nov. 16) would have been a lot more convincing if she admitted that the so-called ``medical usage'' has been perverted in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland into an unregulated bazaar supplying every pothead who showed up. Compassionate voters who approved medicinal marijuana initiatives around the country were led to believe that they were sanctioning medically supervised marijuana use for small numbers of seriously ill users, not that they were opening up the floodgates to supply pot legally to everyone who showed up with a note from a friend. These voters thought they were approving use of marijuana prescribed by a physician, with controlled distribution. But they were misled and outfoxed by those whose real agenda is total legalization. Now that we have seen the widespread abuses in the Bay Area, and since we know that marijuana can be a gateway drug leading to more serious addictions and related social problems, I find it hard to understand how Jacobs, normally a pragmatic, sensible writer, can fail to see the medical marijuana movement for what it really is: the opening of a new Pandora's box. Thomas J. Macdonald Rio Del Mar - --- Checked-by: Rolf Ernst