ITG

Opinion- War on Drugs may loosen up on marijuana - to what effect?
03/20/09 | NY Daily News | Dave Moore, Bill Manville

BILL: You know what must be the one fire-proof job in these tough times? Getting on the side of law and order in the War on Drugs. That work never seems to end -- and aren’t we wasting a lot of money trying to change human nature?

DR. DAVE: Bill, is this one of your rants about legalizing marijuana? Well, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is with you. He wants to redeploy federal agents out of states where medicinal marijuana is legal. OK, Bill -- let’s see what effect that has on the kids in California and the 12 other "doctor feelgood" states.

BILL: Even back in the days when I was drinking, Dave, I wouldn’t walk across the street for a toke. Pot never did anything for me. So I’m not defending my own tastes. The question is does, does keeping marijuana illegal stop kids from buying it? My feeling is it endows dope with the kind of rebellious, neo-James Dean glamour that teenagers can’t resist. What do the billions we spend on drug prohibition really buy? In the Wall Street Journal last month, the presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico wrote that in their countries at least, "Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization simply haven't worked."

DR. DAVE: I am also fully aware that the countries you just named have received billions in U.S. aid, and still failed in drug control. But before we go on, let’s get our terms straight. Are you talking about decriminalizing pot, or legalizing it?

BILL: Rep. John Tierney recently reported to Congress that some $15-to-$25 billion in annual profits from U.S. drug sales go to buy guns for the Mexican drug cartels. What if we’d kept that money here, to help people who can’t pay their mortgages? In the face of statistics like that, do we need to go into legal hair splitting? Decriminalization or legalization, what’s the diff?

DR.DAVE: Plenty, if you want to make effective national drug policy. We’ve all heard a lot from the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws --

BILL: -- the NORML people, who want medical marijuana to be made legal.

DR.DAVE: What they never mention is mandating confidential effectiveness audits -- to see who really gets the stuff and how much it "helps their lives."

BILL: I thought the prescriptions were pretty much for people in dire pain. Like late-stage cancer patients and those with deteriorating HIV/AIDS?

DR. DAVE: We here in Washington are a medical marijuana state. A clinic I run does about 250 evaluations of health care disabled workers every year. Mostly people with a combination of physical, mental or chemical health problems.

BILL: How many are patients prescribed medical marijuana by their doctors?

DR.DAVE: About a dozen, and maybe another dozen who say they’re using it without bothering to get a prescription. What they tell me is that with the high cost of health care, they can barely afford to buy their pot, let alone pay for a doctor’s visit.

BILL: You evaluate terminally ill patients? I’m missing something here.

DR. DAVE: Bill, that’s my point. None of these patients are terminally ill or even suffering substantial chronic pain! If they were, they’d be on opiates like methadone. No sir! These happy tokers are smoking for "problems in sleeping," for feeling anxious or depressed.

BILL: Are you saying let’s not base the legalization of medical marijuana on your opinion or mine? That before we can hold a meaningful discussion, we have to scientifically evaluate the effects on people already using it as prescribed by their doctors?

DR. DAVE: Now you’ve got the focus, Bill! You know, I was on board with the AG when he said we needed some honest conversations about race. I think it’s time for him to get himself on down to a California dispensary and have an honest talk with some non-terminal pot smokers, before he redeploys his legal troops from the front lines of legalization battles.

BILL: Working with you has made me change my mind about so many aspects of addiction. Dave, how simple life used to be when I was merely worried about my own drinking -- would there be enough ice, would they run out of gin?

__________________

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

SleepyJohn

Yep! My doctor of Medicine, is just waiting for "Legal Medical Marijuana", His concern about legalization,and decriminalization is,"up to the politicians, for some reason?" With death, in all our futures, I guess it's just a matter of time.. How Long?