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Politics Dictate Disapproval Of Marijuana by the FDA
David Syatt | New University | 05/01/06

The Food and Drug Administration has recently issued a statement declaring that marijuana has no medicinal value and can no longer be prescribed to patients by doctors.

I am happy with this proclamation and am proud that the FDA has the courage to overcome America’s liberal powerhouse. This country’s left-wing has grown so massive that I’m surprised the bald eagle can still remain aloft.

I, for one, do not want my children growing up in a society where some reefer-crazed AIDS patient has the right to rampage through the streets causing “legal” destruction, nor do I want my ears being assaulted by some 80-year-old woman blasting the Snoop Doggity Doo out of her boom box. However, there are still obstacles in our way which must be overcome. Doctors (“butchers” is more like it) are still shouting their support for inhumane stem-cell research and rogue, leftist judges are still ruling in favor of euthanasia. When these barbaric practices can finally be stopped, then our country will finally be heading in the right direction.

This is what opponents of medicinal marijuana believe. And if this country continues to head in their direction, we’ll soon return to bloodletting.

Because of the growing conservative grip on America’s medical community, here’s a situation I foresee: Johnny’s cancer spreads throughout his body because stem-cell research has been halted; however, he’s forced to live with the pain because marijuana is illegal. Now, when Johnny decides that he can no longer stand the extreme pain, he doesn’t get the choice to simply fall asleep because euthanasia, too, has been banned.

All kidding aside, the FDA’s ruling against marijuana is an extreme blow to millions of suffering patients.

For years, doctors and scientists have proclaimed the benefits of marijuana for use with diseases such as AIDS, cancer and glaucoma. In fact, a 1999 study by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that marijuana is a viable way to deal with various medical cases. Yet, the FDA completely ignored this 200-page document when coming to their decision about the usefulness of the drug.

One of these organizations is either not telling the truth or evading other issues. Is it the self-sustaining one, headed by a group of scientists, or the government-funded one, overseen by a man known to push forward conservative ideals?

When appointed head of the FDA in 2002, one of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach’s first acts was to halt a study trying to determine whether abortion does indeed (as many right-wing organizations claim) increase the risk of breast cancer.

Hmm … so the fog begins to lift. But if the FDA’s decision is truly invalid and marijuana really is a useful drug and has so many good uses, then what could possibly be said against it?

Opponents say that marijuana is an addictive substance and thus easily abused.

They also claim that because it has some of the same properties as cigarettes, people argue that marijuana will increase the risk for patients receiving additional diseases like lung cancer.

However, let us look at some actual FDA-“approved” medications. People suffering with cancer may be prescribed to take a substance by the name of Proleukin.

This is no doubt a helpful medicine that has improved the lives of many people. However, this drug is not infallible. It is linked with a condition known as capillary leak syndrome, which can lead to a coma and eventual death.

Now let’s look at Fuzeon, another FDA-approved drug used to fight AIDS.

Patients on this drug may suffer from pneumonia, diarrhea, fever, blood in urine and to top it all off, depression (as if AIDS isn’t depressing enough). Therefore, what makes marijuana any worse?

Addiction and cancer are not definite (neither are the side-effects for the above-mentioned drugs), so the fact is that one cannot judge the benefits of a medication because of its side-effects.

There is also no such thing as “reefer madness” and a cannabis overdose is medically impossible.

Doctors and scientists who are proponents of medicinal marijuana do not advocate recreational use of the drug, but want it to be used to comfort their suffering patients. I do not see anything wrong with that and neither should the FDA.

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