LET FDA DECIDE MARIJUANA ISSUE

It has come to my attention that, although legislation promoting
smoking marijuana and calling it "medicine" was defeated in November
2010 and again last Thursday, it may be called for another vote very
soon. Pot proponents never seem to take no for an answer.

There are more than 20,000 scientific studies on marijuana/cannabis
and none of them have shown crude marijuana to be good for anything,
certainly not medicine. To safely "prescribe" a medicine, the
strength, purity, effectiveness, proper dose for a specific medical
condition, and its interaction with other medications must be known.
Common sense tells us that it is impossible to meet these safety
requirements by smoking a substance.

Medicine must not be based on anecdotal accounts of benefits, but on
peer-reviewed, scientific research. Using the same criteria applied
to all other drugs, the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly
rejected crude marijuana for medical use.

Many have no idea of how dangerous the use of marijuana can be.
Recent studies have shown that it is a huge factor in causing and
exacerbating various kinds of psychosis. Have you considered that the
shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was reported to be a marijuana
smoker? Are you aware that more teens now smoke marijuana than
tobacco cigarettes? Why? Teens themselves say that it's safe -
"because it's medicine."

Legislators are not doctors or researchers. They are politicians and
have no business suggesting that sick people should smoke a weed and
call it "medicine." Circumventing the FDA drug-approval process would
be irresponsible and endanger public health and safety.

Joan Bellm

Carlinville