Washington Post Defects On
Medical Marijuana!
Calls For Reopening Program Making Marijuana "available to terminally ill
patients."
Implicitly Endorsing Medical Marijuana Class Action Suit.
See
Major Defection! The Washington Post
Sort Of Comes Out For Medical Marijuana For DC...
Sort Of... (Marijuananews note: This is the final step
in what is perhaps the most significant defection to date amongst the major prohibitionist
propaganda outlets, the Post being preeminent among them. It will be interesting to see
how the Czar and Post favorite Joe Califano react to this.
Obviously, this will have no impact on the Republican crazies like Barr and company,
but this is a major event in the medical marijuana story.
On the other hand, this editorial demonstrates little understanding of the medical
marijuana issues and shows a thinly veiled disdain for the public, which has been
successfully rebellious against their betters, the authorities in DC.)
November 6, 1999
From The Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
THE WRONG DRUG BATTLE
THE CAMPAIGN to legalize the medical use of marijuana has organized eight ballot
initiatives over the past three years. The Clinton administration has opposed all of them,
and all have passed. The latest test came in Maine on Tuesday. Barry McCaffrey, President
Clinton's drug czar, urged a no vote. But a large majority said yes.
See
Maine
Passes Medical Marijuana Initiative By 61%
Against Almost Unanimous Establishment Opposition
The administration fears that permitting marijuana to alleviate the pain of AIDS and
cancer may open the way to more general legalization. It worries that saying yes to
medical marijuana will muddy public education efforts that denounce drug use.
(Marijuananews note: Is that really their motivation? How much
more noble than the motives usually attributed to advocates of medical marijuana, who are
treated as simply wanting to use medical marijuana as way to legalize all drugs for very
young children.)
See
Portland Paper
Carries Debate Between Police Chief And Sheriff On Medical Marijuana.
The Chief Doesn’t Trust the People With Either Truth or Freedom. Maine Votes Tuesday
-- 2 Articles
and
Is medical
marijuana just the opening wedge to legalize marijuana generally?
Moreover, referendums seem an odd way to make decisions that
properly belong to doctors and health regulators.
(Marijuananews note: Does the decision on whether or not to
arrest sick people really belong to "doctors and health regulators?" That was
the real subject of the initiatives.)
All these arguments have some merit, yet none is overwhelming. Medical
use of marijuana cannot be said to lead inevitably to drug legalization or a pro-drug
culture. Referendums can be haphazard, but voters are not the
only group supporting medical marijuana.
See
California Nurses
Association -- Representing 30,000 Registered Nurses --
Urges Judge Breyer Not to Wait For Appeals Court Ruling;
Allow Oakland Club to Distribute Medical Marijuana Now!
Special to Marijuananews
Earlier this year the Institute of Medicine concluded that marijuana-derived chemicals
can alleviate cancer and AIDS symptoms; it added that these chemicals would be best
delivered in a non-smoked form.
See
Counterblaste to DEA: Fallacious
Pharmacology.
"The contention that smoking cannot possibly be an acceptable route for the
administration
of a therapeutic substance is morality dressed up as science." by Peter Webster
Moreover, the danger that medical marijuana would undermine the broader anti-drug effort
is receding. The first ballot initiative that passed, in California, was flawed: Marijuana
clubs sprouted, and police complained that some members were not in
genuine medical need.
(Marijuananews note: Is the measure of the success of the law
whether or not it is liked by those who have opposed every medical marijuana measure?)
Since then, ballot initiatives have been drafted so as to control access, and the
drafters have accepted further restrictions after their measures won approval in
referendums.
It is time for the administration to drop its doctrinaire opposition
to medical marijuana. It is ineffective and unpopular--both with voters and with some law
enforcers. Rather than harass doctors who prescribe
marijuana, the administration should reopen the federal program under which, until 1991,
marijuana was available to terminally ill patients.
Copyright: 1999 The Washington Post Company
(Marijuananews note: Without realizing it, the Post has basically
endorsed the objective of the Philadelphia Medical Marijuana Class Action suit, which is
seeking to force the government to provide medical marijuana to everyone who needs it.
However, the Post should know that the program was not just for "terminally ill
patients" but for everyone who has a need for it.
The government is trying to stonewall the court, and in their effort to get the case
dismissed claimed that "At this time the defendant [the federal government] has no
method or procedure in place for reopening the Single Patient IND program for smoked
marijuana."
I think that that is a wonderful bit of bureaucratic babble. They read the Post, so
they should give the matter some thought.)
See
An Exceptionally
Well-Informed Article In The Philadelphia Inquirer;
They Caught On and Are Catching Up Fast.
The Impact of The Class Action As A Catalyst
and
Is there
some sort of government program to provide sick people with marijuana?
Supported