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Press Release from Rep.
McCollum, Sponsor of House Anti-Medical Marijuana Resolution
And NORML’s Response
(Ed. note: NORML is to be congratulated for its
speedy and devastating response to McCollum’s embarrassing public display of his
indifference to the truth.)
See
Florida
Representative McCollum Introduces Anti-Medical Marijuana Resolution in House of
Representatives
and
House Of
Representatives To Debate The Medical Use Of MarijuanaFrom
Bill McCollum
8th Dist.—Florida
2266 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202)-225-2176
April 16,1998
Contact Shannon Gravitte @ (202) 225-2176
McCollum: "Medical Marijuana Initiatives are Front for Drug Legalization
Movement" San Francisco’s Largest Medical Marijuana is Closed
See
Peron To Close
Club; Sheriff To "Evict" – For A Day; The Washington Post Is Bemused;
Lungren Confused; I'm Amused
Washington, DC - "The Cannabis Cultivators Club" is a prime example of how a
loosely-worded state ballot initiative can result in the care-free dispensing of a harmful
and addictive drug," U.S. Representative Bill McCollum (R-FL), Chairman of the House
Subcommittee on Crime, said today in response to Judge David Garcia’s decision to
close the San Francisco club. Marijuana was being sold through the club to people acting
as "primary caregivers" for bed-ridden or hospital bound patients. Garcia ruled
that those sales are not authorized under any interpretation of California’s
Proposition 215, which passed in November 1996.
The Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of
Health the American Medical Association, and the American Cancer Society have all
concluded marijuana has no medicinal value. "The collective expert judgement
of these organizations cannot be ignored simply because some people want to label
marijuana ‘medicine’," McCollum said. "Science cannot be based on
opinion polls."
Representative McCollum has sponsored House Resolution 372, which urges the defeat of
state marijuana initiatives. It expresses the sense of the House of
Representatives that marijuana is a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be
legalized for medicinal use. The legislation has been passed by the Judiciary Committee,
and is slated for the House floor in the coming weeks.
For three decades, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has a
high potential for abuse, lacks any currently accepted medical use, and is unsafe, even
under medical supervision. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, HIV-positive smokers of marijuana progress to full blown AIDS twice as fast as
non smokers, and have an increased incidence of bacterial pneumonia.
From 1992 to 1996, marijuana use increased 253% among eighth graders, 151% among tenth
graders and 84% among twelfth graders. At the same time, Drug Enforcement Administration
reports that the THC content in marijuana has doubled in the last decade, due to genetic
manipulation. Twelve to seventeen year-olds who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to
use cocaine than those who abstain.
"The cavalier labeling of a dangerous and highly addictive drug as
‘medicine’ sends the wrong message to our youth. " McCollum said.
"Kids understand when institutions and their leaders are ambivalent. But the future
prospects of our young people are too important for ambivilance."
 | end- |
NORML’s Response
| NORML SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE ALERT— |
Congressman Claims Major Medical Groups Reject Medical Marijuana, But What They Really
Say May Surprise You
April 20, 1998, Washington, D.C.:
A recent press release distributed by the office of Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.)
opposing the legalization of medical marijuana falsely claims: "The Food and Drug
Administration, the National Institute of Health, the American Medical Association, and
the American Cancer Society have all concluded marijuana has no medical value." In
reality, many prestigious medical groups worldwide—including those cited by McCollum—have taken at least partially favorable positions toward the
use of marijuana as a medicine. The NORML Foundation has identified over 30 national and
international medical bodies that publicly support medical marijuana research or
therapeutic use.
Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, said that it was
disingenuous for McCollum to misrepresent the positions of these respected medical groups.
"While there are varying degrees of enthusiasm for the use of marijuana as a medicine
among the medical establishment, it is untrue to claim that groups such as the AMA and NIH
allege that marijuana has ‘no medical value.’ Both groups—along with many
others -- recently voiced support for facilitating medical marijuana research and cited
marijuana’s therapeutic value in the treatment of specific ailments."
Here is what the AMA, NIH, and American Cancer Society really say about the use of
marijuana as a medicine:
The American Medical Association:
"[B]oth survey and data derived from placebo-controlled single dose studies
indicate that smoked marijuana stimulates appetite in normal subjects."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: |
Medical Marijuana, December 1997 (page 10)
"Smoked marijuana was comparable to or more effective than or THC ... in reducing
emesis."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: Medical
Marijuana, December 1997 (page 12) |
"Anecdotal, survey, and clinical data support the view that smoked marijuana and
oral THC provide symptomatic relief in some patients with spasticity associated with
multiple sclerosis or trauma."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: Medical
Marijuana, December 1997 (page 14) |
"[S]moked marijuana may allow individual patients to self-titrate their dosage to
the point of therapeutic benefit, while minimizing undesirable psychoactive effects. It
also provides a method of more rapid onset and offset than oral THC."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: Medical
Marijuana, December 1997 (page 17) |
"The AMA believes that effective patient care requires the free and unfettered
exchange of information and treatment alternatives and that discussion of these
alternatives between physicians and patients should not subject either party to criminal
sanctions."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: Medical
Marijuana, December 1997 (page 19 and continued on the next page) |
"The AMA recommend that adequate and well-controlled studies of smoked marijuana
be conducted in patients who have serious conditions for which preclinical, anecdotal, or
controlled evidence suggests possible efficacy including AIDS wasting syndrome, sever
acute or delayed emesis induced by chemotherapy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury,
dystonia, and neuropathic pain."
| American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs Report #10: Medical
Marijuana, December 1997 (page 18) |
The National Institutes of Health:
"The scientific process should be allowed to evaluate the potential therapeutic
effects of marijuana for certain disorders, dissociated from the societal debate over
potential harmful effects of nonmedical marijuana use."
| National Institute of Health: Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana, Report to
the Director, August 1997 (page 2) |
"Marijuana looks promising enough to recommend that there be new controlled
studies done. The indications in which varying levels of interest was expressed are the
following: appetite stimulation/cachexia, nausea and vomiting following anti-cancer
therapy, neurological and movement disorders, analgesia, [and] glaucoma. Accordingly, the
NIH should consider relevant administrative mechanisms to facilitate grant applications in
each of these areas. Whether or not the NIH is the primary source of grant support for a
proposed bona fide clinical research study, if that study meets U.S. regulatory standards
... protocol approval, ... the study should receive marijuana."
| National Institute of Health: Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana, Report to
the Director, August 1997 (page 5) |
The American Cancer Society:
"[California Senate Bill] 535 focuses on medical marijuana research. [The]
American Cancer Society ... supports S.B. 535 because it is consistent with our long-held
position of supporting research of any agent or technique for which there may be evidence
of a therapeutic advantage."
| letter from American Cancer Society to California State Senator John Vasconcellos (July
24, 1997) |
The Food and Drug Administration:
According to former director of the Bureau of Drugs at the FDA J. Richard Crout
speaking before the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) on February
24, 1998, FDA guidelines for approving drugs require there to be a
"manufacturer" to assure drug "strength, quality, and purity." Since
private manufacturers of medical marijuana are prohibited under federal prohibition, it is
understandable why the FDA has not conducted a review or issued an opinion on whole-smoked
marijuana’s potential as a medicine. The federal government does continue to
manufacture marijuana, but demonstrates no interest in requesting an FDA review. Also, the
government continues to supply medical marijuana to eight patients despite the FDA’s
failure to issue a determination on this matter.
Other Medical Organizations:
Several medical organizations support immediate prescriptive access to medical
marijuana. These include the AIDS Action Council, the American Academy of Family
Physicians, the American Preventive Medical Association, the American Public Health
Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Australian National Task
Force on Cannabis, the California Academy of Family Physicians, the French Ministry of
Health, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the nurses associations of California,
Colorado, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia. A complete breakdown of these
and other group’s stated positions on the medical marijuana issue is available upon
request from The NORML Foundation.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The
NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751.
| END- |
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