17 AIDS Organizations Write
Drug Czar Urging Medical Marijuana Not Be Delayed By IOM Report;
"Terminally ill patients cannot afford to wait for years of research
to prove something they already know: Medical marijuana works."
From USA Today
February 17, 1999
Page A2(Marijuananews note: This is tremendously
important. And it is excellent journalism.
The Institutes of Medicine Report on medical marijuana was supposed to be released late
last year. Then it was delayed until January, then February. Now it is scheduled for
"mid-March."
Politically, the delays are probably good news, in that a really bad report could have
been released at any time. But for patients with urgent medical problems these delays are
simply cruel. That is the point here.
If the report does not immediately address the concerns of people with AIDS, the best
organized patient group in the country, there will certainly be a major protest. This
"appeal" to the Drug Czar is a warning shot across the bow.
The IOM and the medical establishment had better take notice also.
What we see here is the point at which prohibitionist ideology and the pretensions of the
medical establishment conflict with political and medical reality. It is a staple of
prohibitionist propaganda that medical marijuana is a "hoax" being perpetrated
by the evil "legalizers" -- who are just "using" the patients.
Unfortunately, the medical establishment has reduced "science" to a set of
rituals that ignore the well-being of huge numbers of people, a.k.a. anecdotes.
Now here comes a national coalition of AIDS groups saying that "they already know:
Medical marijuana works."
We, the Anecdotes of the United States....
Oops! The sick and dying are getting uppity again! What is a Drug Czar to do?
As this article illustrates the activists are already onto the prohibitionist game. The
standard lies from the Drug Czar’s office are rejected out of hand. They can’t
just keep on playing this game.
The IOM may not play the prohibitionist game, but it will almost certainly play the
medical establishment game and – of course -- call for "more research."
You’re not against science are you? Aren’t you just dying to see some new
research? Well, maybe that was a poor choice of words.)
AIDS groups plead for ‘medical marijuana’
by Patrick McMahon
AIDS activists are concerned that a study due out next month may set back for years
their hopes that marijuana will be approved for AIDS patients, and they are urging the
White House drug czar to intercede.
A coalition of 17 organizations across the country fears that the
report will stop short of recommending medical marijuana as suitable for AIDS patients,
and instead call for more research.
"Terminally ill patients cannot afford to wait for years of research to prove
something they already know: Medical marijuana works," the activists say.
In a letter to be released later this week, they are seeking help from retired Army
general Barry McCaffrey, director of National Drug Control Policy, who ordered the study.
They are asking McCaffrey to help break a "bureaucratic logjam" and help
speed government approval of marijuana for AIDS patients.
"Our request is simple," they say in the letter, "Just as promising AIDS
medications have been made available prior to final Food and Drug Administration approval,
so too should marijuana, when recommended by a physician."
"We want to see that study before we comment on it," says McCaffrey spokesman
Bob Weiner. As for speeding FDA approval for AIDS patients, he says his office will defer
to the FDA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"It’s their call," Weiner says. "We’ve
always said that science, not politics, should dictate what is safe and effective medicine
in America."
See The Drug Czar’s Position On Medical Marijuana
and
Lester
Grinspoon Attends Two Conferences On Medical Marijuana In Germany
And Our Drug Czar Says that Medical Marijuana Is A Hoax To Legalize Drugs
– Analysis Plus 2 Articles
and
Media Give
The Drug Czar Free Ride On Prohibitionist Propaganda
Against Medical Marijuana Initiatives -- 2 Articles
and
Fooling Our
Children’s Children: Lying About the Medical Marijuana Movement;
Is There Any Difference Between The Drug Czar and A Crackpot?
and
Las Vegas
Paper Supports Medical Marijuana But Invites The Drug Czar To Lie To Its Readers
The statements from McCaffrey’s office drew a frustrated
response from Steven B. Johnson, policy director of the Northwest AIDS Foundation in
Seattle, the largest AIDS social service agency in the Northwest.
"The General clearly doesn’t know what’s going on in the front lines in
the fight against AIDS," Johnson says.
At issue is a study reviewing the scientific research that has been done on medical
marijuana’s effectiveness. It is being conducted by the National Institute of
Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.
It is due to be released in mid-March.
See
The
"Statement of Task" page from the NAS Medical Marijuana site.
(Marijuananews note: The Home Page and the rest of
the site can be reached from the links at the bottom of that page. This exercise is both
terribly important and yet utterly bizarre. Organized establishment science is trying to
see if it can discover why sick, dying and disabled Americans risk their freedom to use
medical marijuana. They will not, however, do research the therapeutic benefits of being
arrested, which is the current policy.)
The activists say in a statement that "this is the first
time that AIDS groups have come together to call for legal, immediate access to
marijuana."
The coalition comes together as the states of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Arizona
are implementing ballot measures approved last November allowing physicians to recommend
marijuana to treat cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and nausea and
seizures.
See
Message From Voters To Washington: Legalize
Medical Marijuana
Measures Protecting Patients Pass in Five States, District of Columbia
NORML Weekly P R November 4
Marijuana is categorized by the federal government as a Schedule I drug, along with
heroin. It is not approved for any medical use, and it is against federal law for
physicians to prescribe it.
The letter to McCaffrey takes note of the FDA approval process that has been
streamlined for several medications important to patients living with HIV and AIDS.
"Thousands of Americans, many of them living with HIV, use
marijuana as a medicine illegally, putting themselves at risk of arrest and
prosecution," the letter says. "People should not have to risk their health or
jail to receive needed medical care."
See
Delaware AIDS
Patient Defiantly Faces Third Medical Marijuana Charge:
"I believe I’m the voice of tens of thousands of people who can’t have a
voice."
The letter goes on to say, "Science and compassion should
dictate our nation’s policy regarding medical treatment."
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