Pompo

Illegal marijuana can't be good medicine
12/20/08|The Billings Gazette| by Daniel Dunlap - Opinion



A recent Gazette guest opinion by a retired Billings physician stated that "medical marijuana" is a safe and effective drug for use by patients with chronic pain and by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It asserted that legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana production in America could generate $350 billion in revenue that could be "diverted from the drug lords" and applied to "education, treatment and a myriad of other societal needs." Allegations of the "incessant drumbeat of lies" by the Drug Enforcement Administration regarding marijuana's viability as a useful drug were also put forth, claiming that DEA wrongly insists marijuana is "highly addictive" and that it is a "gateway drug."

Registered researchers
Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, and DEA was created in 1973 to investigate and enforce it in order to protect the public health and safety. Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance, and has never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for marketing in the United States. Under the CSA, it is illegal to manufacture, distribute or possess marijuana for any purpose other than government-approved research. Regardless, several states, including Montana in 2004, have passed voter initiatives that allow the possession of marijuana by anyone who has obtained a physician's "recommendation" that marijuana would benefit that person's health. Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court has twice clearly ruled that even though a person complies with a state's law regarding legalized marijuana, it remains illegal federally.

As of June 2008, more than 100 researchers are registered with DEA to perform studies with marijuana and its derivatives. Nineteen researchers are approved to conduct studies with "smoked marijuana" on human subjects. Some preliminary studies show potential value in drugs like THC (the primary psychoactive chemical found in marijuana) for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation. Although smoked marijuana delivers THC to the body, it also delivers harmful substances, including most of those found in tobacco smoke. The American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the British Medical Association, among other organizations, have all rejected smoked marijuana and the legalization of marijuana as a safe, medically and scientifically sound substance.

We remember that in the last century, smoking tobacco was encouraged for its refreshing and invigorating qualities. Now that we've studied and realized the harmful and addictive effects of tobacco use, no legitimate physician in the U.S. would ever recommend that a patient should use tobacco, smoked or otherwise. Why would any physician ever recommend smoked marijuana (which contains at least 483 different chemicals, the effects of which are either uncertain or likely to be harmful to humans) to a patient already suffering from cancer or any other disease or condition?

Not FDA-approved
Psychoactive drugs like marijuana make a person feel good, but without considering marijuana's actual side effects, it is not yet approved to FDA standards as a medicine, and therefore DEA must enforce the law. DEA does not target individual users who are engaged in "simple possession" of marijuana, even though they are violating federal law.

DEA vigorously investigates drug-trafficking organizations, often disguised as "medical" marijuana facilities, involved in marijuana cultivation, trafficking and distribution. These violators profit immensely from real patients seeking relief, and they cater to drug-seeking persons who concoct excuses so either illegitimate or uninformed doctors will give them a "recommendation" to acquire marijuana. Those who promote legalization of marijuana and other dangerous drugs do so for their own selfish or naive reasons without consideration for the safety, health and welfare of the people of the United States.

Daniel Dunlap is a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Billings.