San Francisco Mayor Brown
Urges "Don’t Bar A Pain Killer Approved By Voters"
From the Los Angeles Times letters@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/
April 8, 1998
By WILLIE L. BROWN JR. Mayor of San Francisco
DON’T BAR A PAIN KILLER OK’D BY VOTERS
Marijuana: U.S. action would deprive sufferers of AIDS, cancer and other illnesses of a
beneficial substance.
For San Francisco resident Dixie Romagno, something as simple as taking a shower or
climbing stairs can make her double over in excruciating pain. Dixie is in her 20th
year of chronic multiple sclerosis. To alleviate the agonizing bone
pain, spasms and spinal cord problems that wrack her body, this 46-year-old grandmother of
two uses marijuana. Five million Californians backed her right to do so when they
approved a 1996 ballot measure that allows the use of marijuana for people who suffer from
AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.
In San Francisco, we’ve worked hard to honor that right by
making marijuana obtainable through a dispensary clinic that operates with the cooperation
of local authorities.
But now the federal government wants to take away that right. In January, the Justice
Department filed a civil suit to shut down six medical marijuana dispensaries in Northern
California, including the San Francisco Marijuana Cultivators Club, which Dixie,
along with 8,000 other ailing Californians, depend on for their medicine.
(Ed. note: It is interesting that the Mayor specifically
mentions Dennis Peron's club. It is both the largest and the most controversial, the
target of both Lungren and the Feds. Bravo! Your Honor!)
The Justice Department views the suit as a simple case of state law tangling with the
supremacy of federal law. "The issue is not the medical use of marijuana," U.S.
Atty. Michael Yamaguchi has said. "It’s about the persistent violation of
federal law."
But as mayor of a city that has seen more than its share of people suffering and dying
from AIDS, I know that’s not the end of the issue. The debate
over medical marijuana is, above all else, about compassion for people in pain. Enforcing
a law for its own sake can still cause unintended harm to innocent persons. The closure of
cannabis patient clubs would force individuals like Dixie to suffer needless agony. Many
will be compelled to buy their medicine from the streets. This would endanger their lives
and place undue burden on local law enforcement whose time would be better spent pursuing
real criminals, not desperate patients.
In San Francisco and in cities across the state, local health and police officials have
worked with medical marijuana dispensaries to ensure that they operate in the spirit of
the law. Controls have been encouraged and implemented to guard against abuse, including
the use of standardized medical forms from doctors and photo identification cards
certifying legitimate patients. The current system isn’t
perfect. But until marijuana is approved by the Federal Drug Administration as a
prescription drug, California’s medical marijuana dispensaries are a viable medical
alternative.
Many of the tens of thousands of patients who use marijuana do so often as a last
resort when all other prescribed medicines have failed, or produce side effects that
cancel out their benefits. Most of them can’t cultivate their own marijuana;
that’s why they rely on the clubs. Rather than censure this public health
crisis with a lawsuit, the Justice Department should urge the Clinton administration to
work with local and state governments to implement a plan for distributing medical
marijuana that complies with both federal and state law and that puts the needs of
patients first. The California Senate is reviewing a bill to establish a task force that
would research and make recommendations about the safe and affordable distribution of
marijuana to patients in medical need.
In December, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy is expected to release the results of a study that will report on marijuana’s
medical effectiveness. These initiatives are promising, but the process will take time. In
the interim, the federal government should impose a moratorium on enforcement of marijuana
laws that interfere with the locally regulated operation of cannabis patient clubs and
allow patients access to their medicine. Californians with life-threatening diseases
shouldn’t have to suffer while their elected representatives work to find a middle
ground between local discretion and federal supremacy.
- - - Willie L. Brown Jr. Is the Mayor of San Francisco
Copyright Los Angeles Times
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