MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE SHOULD STICK TO THE FACTS

A friend of mine recently sent me some of his thoughts on the current drug
war strategies, and I'd like to share them with your readers:

While the federal government is doing everything in its power to deny
medical marijuana to sick and dying people, apparently to send the "right
message to our children," politicians and the media are guilty of a
cultivated historical and cultural amnesia!

The Drug Enforcement Agency's own law judge, Francis L. Young, concluded in
1988 that "marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest
therapeutically active substances known to man... One must reasonably
conclude that there is accepted safety for use of marijuana under medical
supervision. To conclude otherwise, on the record, would be unreasonable,
arbitrary, and capricious."

The DEA's own judge concluded this. Please, don't contribute to the
hypocrisy, help inform Americans of the facts!

With the creation of the FDA in 1970, marijuana was classified as a
Schedule I drug, meaning it has zero recognized medicinal value. By always
clinging to the scheduling status, government has kept the public and the
media in the dark. And if the FDA is such an authority on drugs, why are
the lethal drugs of alcohol and tobacco not under its jurisdiction?

It is time for Americans to re-evaluate inconsistent and ineffective drug
war strategies. We need to reduce harm, not increase draconian rhetoric!

Tai Luxon San Luis Obispo, CA 93410-1100 tluxon@phoenix.calpoly.edu