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April 6, 1998

By Matthew Hine, M.D.

About the Author:

Background: Hine earned his medical degree at the University of Texas at Galveston in 1987. He earned a masters degree of public health in 1990. He has been a resident of Colorado Springs since 1996.

Experience: He is a practicing physician specializing in preventative medicine and is a member of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians.

TOBACCO A MORE DANGEROUS DRUG THAN MARIJUANA, BUT IT’S STILL LEGAL

I wonder if politicians are afraid of losing their jobs by appearing soft on drugs (which would be risky), or if they’re afflicted with a thought disorder when it comes to drug policy.

While researchers at the World Health Organization reported that cannabis (marijuana) is in many ways safer than tobacco or alcohol (New Scientist Magazine, February 2, 1998), Vice President Al Gore addressed a young audience in Boston about the dangers of tobacco. "Why don’t you close all the tobacco factories and farms?" one bright student asked. The vice president replied that such an approach would be impossible, akin to the government’s failed prohibition on alcohol. "There are so many (tobacco) addicted adults, that if you try to outlaw the industry you’d have a horrible law enforcement problem," he said. (Massachusetts Standard-Times, March 15, 1998.)

Really! Has Gore forgotten that he has admitted being one of more than 70 million Americans who have broken the law by smoking ... marijuana? More than 10 million have been arrested on marijuana charges since 1972, the vast majority for simple possession of a small quantity. In that same year, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse told Congress that possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana should be decriminalized.

Congress did not follow the Commission’s advice. There were 640,000 marijuana arrests in 1997 alone. As a result, our prisons are bursting at the seams. (Ed. note: Marijuana prohibition is major burden on the criminal justice system, but not directly on the prisons. Most people arrested for marijuana do not go to prison for simple possesion.)

Due in large part to our war on marijuana users, the United States has the distinction of incarcerating a larger percentage of our population than any other nation on earth. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws cause longer jail terms for non-violent offenders than for murderers. The housing and feeding of each prisoner bleeds off more than $20,000 per year of taxpayer’s money.

Politicians seem to believe that kids will be spared marijuana’s harms by exaggerating its risks and enforcing strict penalties. But when it comes to tobacco, we are expected to trust the tobacco industry to keep kids away from their more harmful product?

To show how ludicrous this is, imagine reversing the situation. Picture a world where marijuana manufacturers are allowed the power to negotiate regulation, even as they receive subsidies from the federal government, and where pot is available at every gas station and grocery store. Imagine citizens who risk forfeiting their liberty and property for possessing the smallest amount of tobacco.

Tobacco addicts millions and causes hundred of thousands of premature deaths each year. No one believes tobacco has medicinal value. Marijuana, on the other hand, has been recommended by doctors for centuries.

Today, it helps patients suffering from AIDS, the side effects of chemotherapy, and a variety of spastic muscle disorders. It is not physically addicting, and unlike cigarettes or booze, not one case of human death due to its use has been documented.

The myths that using marijuana causes a person to become an abuser of "hard drugs," or that marijuana causes brain damage were disproven years ago. (Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A review of the scientific literature, by Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D. and John Morgan, M.D. published by The Lindesmith Center, 1997.)

Marijuana has been used as a medicine in China, India, the Middle East and South America. In the 19^th century, it was respectable enough to be used by Queen Victoria’s doctor to alleviate her pain during childbirth. The renowned physician Sir William Osler recommended it as a superior treatment for migraine headaches.

This conflict between medical needs and federal policy has created a situation in which desperately ill patients turn to the streets and become criminals.

In 1988, after reviewing the evidence brought forth in a lawsuit against the government’s prohibition of medical marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s own judge wrote: "The evidence clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the Drug Enforcement Administration to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence."

Since that time, many respected individuals and organizations have recommended a regulatory rather than a prohibitionist approach to marijuana.

There is absolutely no argument about the need to keep children away from alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, but the strategies are quite different. My preferred recreational drug is one you wouldn’t want your kids to get a hold of. Used irresponsibly, it’s addictive, causes liver and brain damage, and is linked to increased violence. The social and health costs of its use are horrendous. Fortunately, the chances of any government legalizing it outright - remoring all regulations - are small. After all, alcohol has been around so long that the only way to control it is through regulation, not prohibition.