This article is informative and well-written, but it also has a number of errors. It does demonstrate that the medical marijuana story has a ready audience at campus newspapers where prohibitionist editors (See:Marijuana and the Media By Jeff Meyers -- A Reporter's Inside Story) do not hold sway. Most of all it provides an outstanding example of how prohibitionist anti-sense has corroded the public discourse. 

The Daily (University of Washington)
January 21, 1998
See:The University of Washington Student Newspaper -- The Daily -- Endorses "Decriminalization
KOHL FLIES SOLO IN PUSH FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

OLYMPIA -- Letting patients with serious medical conditions smoke marijuana is an idea State Sen. Jeanne Kohl, D-Queen Anne, doesn't find half-baked. Kohl, who also is a University of Washington lecturer in sociology and women studies, is sponsoring a bill that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

"I think it's a travesty that gravely ill patients are criminals if they use marijuana," Kohl said."A large proportion of people in society have a friend, relative or acquaintance who has suffered a grave illness ... why should [he] be classified as a criminal?"

Senate Bill 6271, the Washington State Medical Marijuana Act, would give patients and doctors a legal defense for manufacturing, possessing or delivering marijuana -- as long as the patient has a serious medical condition. The bill would limit possession of marijuana to no more than two ounces, and require patients to obtain written documentation from a physician authorizing use.

The prospects of SB6271 in Olympia are, well, hazy. The chair of the Health and Long-term Care Committee, Sen. Alex Deccio (R-Yakama), said he "was not even thinking" about moving the bill this legislative session. "I don't think it would ever get out of the Rules Committee," Deccio said.

Nonetheless, Deccio convened a hearing on the bill Jan. 20 to discuss the medicinal effects of marijuana, and Kohl hopes that, by drafting and revising the proposal through the legislative process, a politically viable bill can be created that can either be passed in future sessions or used as a model for a state initiative.

The political viability of using marijuana for medical purposes is unclear. A 1996 poll of 400 state voters found that 78 percent favored making marijuana legally available if prescribed by a doctor. But in November 1997, voters overwhelmingly rejected initiative 685, a bill that would have legalized mnrijuana, heroin and LSD for medical uses, as well as decriminalize nonviolent drug offenses.

No legislators have signed on as co-sponsors for Kohl's bill, generally a sign of limited support. And Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a Democrat like Kohl, is firmly opposed to Kohl's legislation as it currently is written.

"The bill has a couple glaring problems," Owen said. "You can't have self-growing of marijuana, just like you don't have people growing their own cocaine. And anything [that is passed] should be based on legitimate research efforts." (Ed. Note: Governor, people can't "grow their own cocaine" -- or morphine -- which are derivatives, but they don't have to because they are available by prescription.)

Owen says he is not opposed to continuing research efforts to determine a method of providing marijuana to gravely ill patients, but that safeguards are necessary.

"This is not Puritan, self-righteous Brad waving the flag for the Christian Coalition." Owen said. "We are not shooting from the hip--we are identifying the things that have potential [to help patients] but need more research. (Ed. Note This is actually an important point. The governor is a Democrat and therefore not a "Puritan," but his position -- like Shalala's -- is based on the belief in the therapeutic state. Medical marijuana and the American people are caught between two very different groups that are determined to control us for the good of our bodies and/or souls.)

"The research efforts could be handled by the UW, Washington State University or both." Owen said. "If we used the UW, to use an example, we could grow and distribute there.

"Isn't that what we want -- to provide that opportunity for relief?" (Ed. Note: Relief in the abstract is very different from relief for someone in actual pain right now. See: Ralph Seeley, Freedom Fighter -- Obituary by Michael D. Cutler, Esq.)

Kohl, however, says research efforts aren't enough, and she questions whether the UW or any other state institution could provide marijuana legally.

"I support research," Kohl said, "but the federal government hasn't allowed it to be done. It's a Catch-22 situation.

"If we did [distribute] through the Institute of Health or the UW, it's very likely the state would be criminally liable," Kohl said.

Politicians aren't the only group divided over the issue of medical marijuana. Scientists and doctors disagree over the medical effectiveness and necessity of smoking marijuana, since the active ingredient, THC, already is legally available in pill form (usually referred to as Marinol or Roxane -- Ed Note: Roxane is the manufacturer) And because of the federal government's reluctance to pay for marijuana studies, there is a shortage of controlled studies providing hard scientific data.

On the pro-smoke side is the American Public Health Association and the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine. They cite the effectiveness of marijuana in lowering internal eye pressure associated with glaucoma, reducing the suffering of patients with AIDS and cancer, and other effects relieving muscle spasms and chronic pain. The supporters also note that, unlike a pill, smoking marijuana allows the patient to control the dosage and the duration of the effects.

Additionally, patients suffering from extreme nausea find it difficult to ingest the pill, limiting its application.

Dr. Sandra Counts of the UW testified Jan. 20 before the Health and Long-term Care Committee in support of legalizing marijuana for medical use.

"We do a disservice when we say we can't distinguish between using drugs for pain ... and using them to get high," Counts said. "We need to make this drug available now to the people who need it."

The American Cancer Society, the American Glaucoma Association and the National Sclerosis Society, however, all see little reason to "legalize it." They are concerned with the effects marijuana smoking has on the brain and, more importantly, the lungs: Studies have found mari]uana to contain 50 percent to 70 percent more carcinogens than tobacco. Because of these and possibly other unknown effects, and also because of social concerns surrounding legalization, these groups endorse Marinol as an alternative to toking up.

A study completed in 1997 at Washington State University, researching the cost of supplying marijuana for medicinal purposes, supports the anti-legalization position. The report found "no compelling reason" to smoke marijuana when the synthetic form is readily available, and UW researchers who reviewed the study agreed.

"There should be no major differences in effect between synthetic THC versus the THC present in marijuana." said Sidney Nelson, dean of the UW School of Pharmacy. (Ed. Note: Ask the wrong question, then publish the wrong answer.)

Kohl sponsored the bill appropriating money for the WSU study, and she remains highly critical of its findings, describing it as methodologically flawed. She pointed to her friend, a Bainbridge Island resident who is unable to ingest the THC pill but can find relief through smoking marijuana.

A 1990 survey of Washington State oncologists -- specialists in tumors -- found that 48 percent had suggested patients smoke marijuana to relieve suffering induced by chemotherapy. An exhaustive survey of the medical evidence conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1988 concluded that "it would be unreasonable, arbitraty and capricious" for the agency to continue to prohibit medical use of marijuana, a conclusion that was ignored by the agency. And numerous anecdotal stories attest to the healing power of inhaled marijuana.  As one might expect, political questions surrounding medical marijuana arrest as important as medical questions. Owen, who was zealous in his opposition to initiative 685, is concerned that some organizations, such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, are using medical marijuana as a stepping stone to complete legalization.

"Supporters of legalization are using the pain and suffering of others to further their efforts," Owen said. "Marijuana is not a harmless drug." (Ed. Note: This is a truly bizarre statement. It acknowledges that there is pain and suffering, then treats the people who are suffering -- like the late Ralph Seeley -- as idiots, who are mindlessly manipualted by a tiny organization. Then it uses an argument questioning the motives of some of those supporting the medical access -- while ignoring others, such as William F. Buckley, Jr. or the New England Journal of Medicine -- to neglect the pain and suffering. Then it uses the "straw man argument" that marijuana is not "harmless," which is doubly irrelevant. First, no one claims that it is, but medicines do not have to be "harmless" to be valuable. In fact, marijuana is one of the least toxic therapeutic agents. Is the Governor's statement a symptom of brain damage? No, it is a symptom of the deterioration of the public discourse and our ability to recognize anti-sense when we hear it. )

But for now, both supporters and opponents of medical marijuana legalization will have to wait for further research. The UW received financing--through the same legislation that paid for the WSU study--to conduct a controlled study of the medical effects of marijuana. That study has been delayed because the UW is still waiting for federal approval.