Pompo

MMJ a Decoy in Effort To Legalize All Drugs
9/28/07|Daily Bulletin| by Brenda Chabot, Guest Columnist

The Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition stands firmly against medical-marijuana dispensaries.
We have a tough fight in front of us, but one that we are winning - and it's due in large part to the efforts of political leaders, community volunteers and parents who are standing up against the plight of medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Leadership in this community has helped to expose the dangers of smoked marijuana and the dangers of allowing marijuana shops to operate in our communities. We applaud Ontario and Norco, just to name a few, who have had the courage to stand up and ban these dispensaries outright from their cities. We want other cities to do the same, especially those who continue to sit on the fence with a moratorium.

Research has not demonstrated that smoked marijuana can be helpful as medicine.

Marinol is a medicine - smoked marijuana is not. Unfortunately, positive coverage of the medical-marijuana debate has contributed to misperception that marijuana is harmless or may even have health benefits. Interviews with teens found that some believe that marijuana can cure cancer and other serious diseases.

Any determination of a drug's valid medical use must be based on the best available science undertaken by medical professionals. The Institute of Medicine conducted a comprehensive study in 1999 to assess the potential health benefits of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. The study concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for the treatment of any disease condition. In addition, there are more effective medications currently available. For those reasons, the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.

Advocates have promoted the use of marijuana to treat medical conditions such as glaucoma. However, this is a good example of more effective medicines already available. According to the Institute of Medicine, there are six classes of drugs and multiple surgical techniques that are available to treat glaucoma that effectively slow the progression of this disease by reducing high intraocular pressure.

In other studies, smoked marijuana has been shown to cause a variety of health problems, including cancer, respiratory problems, increased heart rate and loss of motor skills. Furthermore, marijuana can affect the immune system by impairing the ability of T-cells to fight off infections, demonstrating that marijuana can do more harm than good in people with already compromised immune systems.

In addition, in a recent study by the Mayo Clinic, THC was shown to be less effective than standard treatments in helping cancer patients regain lost appetites.

The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance.

As a result of such research, a synthetic THC drug, Marinol, has been available to the public since 1985. The Food and Drug Administration has determined that Marinol is safe, effective and has therapeutic benefits for use as a treatment for nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, and as a treatment of weight loss in patients with AIDS. However, it does not produce the harmful health effects associated with smoking marijuana.

It's also important to realize that the campaign to allow marijuana to be used as medicine is a tactical maneuver in an overall strategy to completely legalize all drugs.

Prolegalization groups have transformed the debate from decriminalizing drug use to one of compassion and care for people with serious diseases.

Marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug that poses significant health threats to users and to the community in which marijuana is sold.

Marijuana has no medical value that can't be met more effectively by legal drugs. Marijuana users are far more likely to use other drugs like cocaine and heroin than nonmarijuana users, and this raises additional concerns for those trying to purchase marijuana in our Inland Valley cities.

Drug legalizers use "medical marijuana" as red herring in effort to advocate broader legalization of drug use.