McCaffrey says: Let voters decide

Antidrug policy chief testifies on medical marijuana use

By Reuters, 10/02/97

WASHINGTON Barry McCaffrey, the coordinator of the US antidrug effort,
said yesterday that legislators opposing medical use of marijuana should
let the public decide the issue.

''At the end of the day, the government should offer to me the scientific
fact, and let the American people make up their own minds,'' General
McCaffrey told members of a House panel on crime.

Later, McCaffrey was blunt when asked whether he would travel to Florida,
Arkansas and other states to oppose medical marijuana measures that were
expected to be placed on voters' ballots.

''I am not in charge of America,'' McCaffrey said. ''I'll provide
information for the debate, leaning heavily on the scientificmedical
community. I'll inform them of federal law. I'm not America's nanny. The
American people are perfectly capable, when they are exposed to the facts,
of making up their own mind.''

Eight states have medical marijuana laws, according to McCaffrey's office
of National Drug Control Policy. They are: California, Arizona, Louisiana,
Georgia, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Five more states plus Washington D.C., have such initiatives pending. The
states are Alaska, Washington state, Arkansas, Florida and Massachusetts.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School said in prepared testimony
that marijuana can be useful in treating the nausea often brought on by
cancer chemotherapy and can also be effective for other ailments.

Grinspoon likened the general rejection of marijuana's medical uses to
early suspicions about penicillin.

McCaffrey said further studies were needed to determine marijuana's
effectiveness for medical purposes.

Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.