Pot Luck
The US Supreme Court is now deliberating the case entitled "Ashcroft vs Raich" (03-1454). Angel Raich is a very sick woman who believes that marijuana is the best medication for some of her symptoms. She is seeking a declaratory judgment from the Court that the US Controlled Substances Act (CSA) cannot be constitutionally applied to deny her the right to use marijuana produced in her home state of California. Her attorney claims that the powers enumerated in the Constitution for the federal government do not include regulation of medications not involved in interstate commerce.
This litigation raises several important questions, beside the federal-state issue :
Does marijuana have a legitimate medical use? If so, should sick people have the legal right to use it?
Should healthy people be permitted to use marijuana just to get "high?"
What is marijuana, and how is it used?
Marijuana ( aka cannabis sativa) is a drug made from the dried leaves of the Indian hemp plant. It is smoked or ingested in food.
Nicknames include "pot" and "weed."
What is the effect of using marijuana?
Users report a mild euphoria, plus a distortion of time and space, which is why some are called "spaced-out." Users are in a placid, languid state for several hours.
(None of this information is based on personal experience.)
Is using marijuana dangerous?
If someone under the influence of the drug drives a car, rides a bicycle, or operates a boat or industrial machinery, the user is about as dangerous as someone drunk from alcohol. However, unlike alcohol, marijuana does not spark violent behavior.
Smoking tobacco causes a number of lung and cardio-vascular diseases.
Does smoking marijuana have the same effect?
Introducing any smoke into a person's lungs is bound to be harmful eventually. Since most marijuana smokers also use tobacco (plus other drugs in many cases), it is hard to measure the long-term effects of marijuana alone. The drug includes the chemical THC, which interacts with brain-chemistry to produce the euphoria. As a result, long-term heavy use will degrade mental ability, just like alcohol.
Is marijuana addictive?
Users who stop do not suffer withdrawal symptoms (as they do with heroin, alcohol, and nicotine), but may become psychologically dependent upon the substance.
Does marijuana have any known medical uses?
Since a Chinese herbal-medicine guide from 2700 BCE noted the analgesic powers of the drug, it has been known to relieve pain, nausea, spasms, and internal eye-pressure (1).
Some patients claim that marijuana has been more effective in treating their symptoms that all other medications.
What laws have been passed to control marijuana?
The drug was restricted by the International Opium Convention of 1925.
The US Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 restricted the substance to medical use, under tight regulations. In 1941 it was removed from the US Pharmacoepia. The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 placed marijuana in a group of drugs (Schedule I) that have "No accpted medical uses" and are "unsafe." Despite a recommendation by a Presidential Commission in 1972 that marijuana be "de-criminalized", unauthorized possession and sale remain federal crimes under the Controlled Substances Act. (2)
State laws vary: some allow medicinal use, some provide civil penalties, and others mandate felony prosecution for possession and sale.
Does the federal government permit medical use of marijuana?
Yes, the government actually produces some of the substance for certain patients who have shown a legitimate need for it. Enrollment in the experimental program is limited, and the supplies are tightly controlled. In addition, a synthetic pill form of THC called "Marinol" is a Schedule III drug, available by prescription.
How many people are arrested and jailed for marijuana offenses each year?
About 700,000 people are arrested annually for marijuana crimes, 87% of them for mere possession. About 37,000 people are in prisons for marijuana offenses, plus another 10,000 in local jails(3) . Marijuana prisoners cost taxpayers over $760 million each year, plus the costs of law-enforcement and prosecution.
In view of these facts, how should the Supreme Court rule in Ashcroft vs Raich?
That Congress has no constitutional power to regulate drugs unless they cross state lines. This would be a "narrow ruling" since most illegal drugs sold in the US are imported and cross numerous state lines. The more basic question of whether marijuana should be available to sick people or to everyone should be left to the Congress and the States.
Should marijuana be removed from the federal Schedule I of illegal drugs? Yes, because it is no more dangerous to the public than alcohol and tobacco, which are now legal for all adults. We do not need the "nanny government" to save ourselves from the consequences of our own poor judgment. The huge cost of marijuana prohibition plus the difficulties endured by patients who could benefit from the drug are powerful incentives for legalization. If the federal government legalized the substance, I believe that many states would also do so.
What would be the effect of legalization on the drug gangs that deal marijuana now?
I expect that legalization would be followed by the big tobacco firms (American, Reynolds, Lorillard) setting up marijuana brands and financing big promotions. With packages of "weed" available at smokeshops and convenience stores at low prices and guaranteed quality, the gangs could not compete in this new market. They would probably concentrate their efforts on cocaine and heroin, which have a smaller demand. Like bootleggers after repeal of Prohibition, they would have to find a new economic niche or lose cash-flow.
Do you want your children to smoke marijuana?
Absolutely not! Nor do I want them to smoke anything else, drink a lot of gin, eat ham or worship idols. But I support the right of all adults to make these choices without government interference.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)"Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigation of New Drugs Program", Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Volume 2 (1).
(2) Marijuana Rx, by Robert C Randall
(3) Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin, June , 1999.
This litigation raises several important questions, beside the federal-state issue :
Does marijuana have a legitimate medical use? If so, should sick people have the legal right to use it?
Should healthy people be permitted to use marijuana just to get "high?"
What is marijuana, and how is it used?
Marijuana ( aka cannabis sativa) is a drug made from the dried leaves of the Indian hemp plant. It is smoked or ingested in food.
Nicknames include "pot" and "weed."
What is the effect of using marijuana?
Users report a mild euphoria, plus a distortion of time and space, which is why some are called "spaced-out." Users are in a placid, languid state for several hours.
(None of this information is based on personal experience.)
Is using marijuana dangerous?
If someone under the influence of the drug drives a car, rides a bicycle, or operates a boat or industrial machinery, the user is about as dangerous as someone drunk from alcohol. However, unlike alcohol, marijuana does not spark violent behavior.
Smoking tobacco causes a number of lung and cardio-vascular diseases.
Does smoking marijuana have the same effect?
Introducing any smoke into a person's lungs is bound to be harmful eventually. Since most marijuana smokers also use tobacco (plus other drugs in many cases), it is hard to measure the long-term effects of marijuana alone. The drug includes the chemical THC, which interacts with brain-chemistry to produce the euphoria. As a result, long-term heavy use will degrade mental ability, just like alcohol.
Is marijuana addictive?
Users who stop do not suffer withdrawal symptoms (as they do with heroin, alcohol, and nicotine), but may become psychologically dependent upon the substance.
Does marijuana have any known medical uses?
Since a Chinese herbal-medicine guide from 2700 BCE noted the analgesic powers of the drug, it has been known to relieve pain, nausea, spasms, and internal eye-pressure (1).
Some patients claim that marijuana has been more effective in treating their symptoms that all other medications.
What laws have been passed to control marijuana?
The drug was restricted by the International Opium Convention of 1925.
The US Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 restricted the substance to medical use, under tight regulations. In 1941 it was removed from the US Pharmacoepia. The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 placed marijuana in a group of drugs (Schedule I) that have "No accpted medical uses" and are "unsafe." Despite a recommendation by a Presidential Commission in 1972 that marijuana be "de-criminalized", unauthorized possession and sale remain federal crimes under the Controlled Substances Act. (2)
State laws vary: some allow medicinal use, some provide civil penalties, and others mandate felony prosecution for possession and sale.
Does the federal government permit medical use of marijuana?
Yes, the government actually produces some of the substance for certain patients who have shown a legitimate need for it. Enrollment in the experimental program is limited, and the supplies are tightly controlled. In addition, a synthetic pill form of THC called "Marinol" is a Schedule III drug, available by prescription.
How many people are arrested and jailed for marijuana offenses each year?
About 700,000 people are arrested annually for marijuana crimes, 87% of them for mere possession. About 37,000 people are in prisons for marijuana offenses, plus another 10,000 in local jails(3) . Marijuana prisoners cost taxpayers over $760 million each year, plus the costs of law-enforcement and prosecution.
In view of these facts, how should the Supreme Court rule in Ashcroft vs Raich?
That Congress has no constitutional power to regulate drugs unless they cross state lines. This would be a "narrow ruling" since most illegal drugs sold in the US are imported and cross numerous state lines. The more basic question of whether marijuana should be available to sick people or to everyone should be left to the Congress and the States.
Should marijuana be removed from the federal Schedule I of illegal drugs? Yes, because it is no more dangerous to the public than alcohol and tobacco, which are now legal for all adults. We do not need the "nanny government" to save ourselves from the consequences of our own poor judgment. The huge cost of marijuana prohibition plus the difficulties endured by patients who could benefit from the drug are powerful incentives for legalization. If the federal government legalized the substance, I believe that many states would also do so.
What would be the effect of legalization on the drug gangs that deal marijuana now?
I expect that legalization would be followed by the big tobacco firms (American, Reynolds, Lorillard) setting up marijuana brands and financing big promotions. With packages of "weed" available at smokeshops and convenience stores at low prices and guaranteed quality, the gangs could not compete in this new market. They would probably concentrate their efforts on cocaine and heroin, which have a smaller demand. Like bootleggers after repeal of Prohibition, they would have to find a new economic niche or lose cash-flow.
Do you want your children to smoke marijuana?
Absolutely not! Nor do I want them to smoke anything else, drink a lot of gin, eat ham or worship idols. But I support the right of all adults to make these choices without government interference.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)"Chronic Cannabis Use in the Compassionate Investigation of New Drugs Program", Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, Volume 2 (1).
(2) Marijuana Rx, by Robert C Randall
(3) Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin, June , 1999.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 3:35 PM
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