From The Casco Bay Weekly
http://www.cascobayweekly.com/colum/al_10_7_99.html

October 7, 1999

Doctor Worm

by Al Diamon

There are doctors in Maine who believe legalizing marijuana for medical purposes is good medicine. But try to find one with the courage to say that publicly. Asking pro-pot physicians to openly endorse the referendum question on the Nov. 2 ballot seems to cause cases of the shakes reminiscent of the camera work in "The Blair Witch Project." It's enough to give the average doctor motion sickness.

(Fortunately, marijuana helps control nausea.)

It's also enough to make people suffering from the side effects of chemotherapy for cancer and wasting syndrome from AIDS even sicker than they already are. Doctors -- the one group that should be advocating most strongly for the needs of those patients -- are almost entirely silent.

"I'm reluctant to talk, mostly because I've got so many other things on my plate," said one prominent Portland physician, who asked that his name not be used. "I don't want to get drawn into the limelight too much."

Talk about operating.

The ballot question asks voters to allow doctors to advise patients that smoking marijuana could help alleviate the symptoms from certain diseases, such as cancer, AIDS and glaucoma. Because the state cannot supersede federal law, the initiative won't make pot available by prescription, but it would permit people with those illnesses to possess small amounts of the drug.

Similar laws have been approved by voters in six states and the District of Columbia. Polls show the measure enjoys overwhelming support in Maine. So why are members of the medical community who support the idea so reluctant to speak out?

It's certainly not because they lack strong opinions on the subject. "I disagree with the premise that marijuana leads to other drugs," a mid-coast physician told the Bangor Daily News. "It's an effective medicine for certain uses."

Unfortunately, the good doctor preceded his comments by asking the reporter not to use his name.

"It's a little backwater of us not to talk," admitted another doctor known for his outspoken activism on other issues. "You're not going to quote me on that, are you?"

As a result of this outbreak of yellowbelly fever, the public may be getting the erroneous impression that all the state's physicians oppose the use of medical marijuana. Some news outlets reported the Maine Medical Association had unanimously endorsed a resolution opposing physician-assisted pot. But those in attendance at the association's meeting on Sept. 17 in Bar Harbor said a small, but significant, number of doctors either opposed the anti-marijuana statement or abstained from voting.

The same news reports also neglected to mention that the doctors' group had significantly watered down the resolution before approving it. Gone was all that crap about marijuana being a "gateway drug," an old war-on-drugs slogan that has no basis in scientific research. Also missing was the absurd claim that there was no evidence pot had medicinal value. If that were so, why would the federal government permit doctors to prescribe Marinol, an artificial version of the active ingredient in marijuana?

It was obvious somebody with some sympathy for sick people and some common sense about what the latest research showed had been at work behind the scenes.

But behind the scenes isn't good enough in a political campaign on a volatile issue. Somebody has to be willing to stand up and speak the truth in public.

About the closest anyone has come to doing that is Dr. Owen Pickus, a Portland oncologist and a leader in treating people with AIDS. Pickus doesn't hesitate to support the medical use of marijuana and to label his fellow physicians as cowards for failing to join him in doing so.

"Doctors in general are conservative in their beliefs," he said. "They're afraid of peer pressure. They tend to be sheep. Followers, rather than leaders.

"They're trained to be peer-reviewed. That's a system that suggests that if you're outside of what your peers think is right, you must be wrong – even if your peers are wrong.

"They see no upside to standing up and taking a position."

Unfortunately, Pickus won't be appearing in any TV spots for the medical marijuana referendum. He opposes the measure because it creates a conflict

between Maine and national law. "You can't satisfy either the patient or the government," he said. "It does harm to the doctor-patient relationship."

Instead, Pickus favors changing federal regulations to allow doctors to prescribe pot. Of course, that'll happen about the same time George W. Bush 'fesses up to snortin' coke.

In the meantime, Maine doctors should check to see if there's a drug available that will give them some artificial courage.
(Marijuananews note: There is such a drug. It is called alcohol. It is legal, and many doctors use it.)