timiscute

Medical marijuana is an excuse to get high
10/22/09 | Baltimore Sun |

The medical marijuana issue has little to do with helping people and more to do with making the drug legal for all those who want to get high and not get into trouble. If we are truly concerned about using marijuana for medicinal purposes, we would send it to the Food and Drug Administration to be tested, and, if approved, the agency would decide on the best way to make the drug available. This is how we handle all potential new drugs in this country, and if the FDA gives its approval, we get our prescriptions filled at a licensed pharmacy. However, this has never been done with marijuana because we all know the results would be negative since the drug is far more dangerous than anyone wants to admit and its medical use is at best minimal.

Instead, baby boomer lobbyists have convinced several states to set up independent "marijuana dispensaries" to sell marijuana directly to the public, with a doctor's prescription. No other drug is dispensed this way. Can you imagine an OxyContin dispensary in your neighborhood?

This has already led to widespread corruption and the creation of a new black market in which marijuana dispensaries are selling the drug to anyone, including minors. It has also led to an increase in doctors who will write a prescription for marijuana without proper diagnoses, for a price.

Let's remember that the two drugs that kill more Americans are the two legal drugs: tobacco and alcohol. Making marijuana legal would only lead to the same results. The major difference is when you smoke pot, the goal is to get "stoned or high," unlike alcohol and tobacco, where you can use a small amount without creating impairment.

If we are honest with ourselves, we all know that the higher you get after smoking marijuana, the more impaired you get. So if there is a medical use, let's put it through the proper channels, but if the real goal is to legalize marijuana, we need to think about the consequences.Mike Gimbel, Timonium

The writer is the former Baltimore County drug czar and a recovering addict.


(a bit harsh I'd say)

__________________