-> SNETNEWS Mailing List Forwarded E-Mail Message Tue, 20 Apr 1999 15:10:22 -0400 useful excerpts from IOM medicinal marijuana report -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marijuana Policy Project <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> posted: Special thanks to everyone who responded to MPP's request for donations to help us continue making the most of the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) landmark report on medicinal marijuana. More than a month after its March 17 release, the IOM report is still making news. And according to a Gallup poll conducted March 19-21, 73% of Americans support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering." Yet, according to the latest issue of _Psychiatric News_, the Drug Czar's office still endorses arresting medicinal marijuana users. (Please see MPP news release below.) MPP has just published "Questions about medicinal marijuana answered by the Institute of Medicine's report" -- which is available on-line at http://www.mpp.org/science.html. This document, a compilation of the best excerpts from the IOM report, reaffirms that the science is on our side. Consequently, the IOM report will be a useful tool that we can all use to change the laws. Please read the aforementioned document and let your three members of Congress know the truth. In particular, please ask your U.S. representative to co-sponsor U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) new bill, H.R. 912, which would allow states to determine their own medicinal marijuana laws without federal interference. (Please see http://www.mpp.org/912alert.html for specifics.) Finally, please read the following news release to see the kind of cruelty and dishonesty that we are fighting against. Thank you. ======================================================================== This news release appears on the Web at http://www.mpp.org/nr042099.html ======================================================================== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 20, 1999 NATIONAL DRUG WAR LEADERS DISREGARD SCIENCE IN MEDICINAL MARIJUANA DEBATE One Month After Institute of Medicine Endorsed Legal Access to Medicinal Marijuana, Drug Czar's Office Reaffirms Policy of Arresting Patients WASHINGTON, DC -- The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) endorses the continuing arrest of medicinal marijuana users, according to the April 16 issue of _Psychiatric News_, the newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). A full month has passed since the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark report -- yet national drug war leaders maintain their hard-line stance against medicinal marijuana users. ONDCP Deputy Director Donald Vereen told _Psychiatric News_, "It doesn't matter what the excuse is," and, drawing an analogy to "using cocaine to treat depression," he said that "you are going to get arrested just as fast." "The prestigious Institute of Medicine recognized marijuana's medical value and endorsed giving seriously ill people legal access to the plant," said Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) co-director Chuck Thomas. Indeed, at IOM's March 17 news conference, IOM Principal Investigator Dr. John Benson said, "[W]e concluded that there are limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses." "The nation's drug warriors first pretended to like the report, but for the past month they've been ignoring it and outright maligning it," said Thomas. "Medicinal marijuana users remain criminals, and there is no change to these laws in sight." In addition, a new Gallup poll, conducted after the IOM report was released (from March 19-21), found that 73% of the American people support "making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering." "Drug Czar McCaffrey and his ilk are completely out of touch with the American people, as well as the science," said MPP's Chuck Thomas. Below is a sampling of some opinions recently expressed by national drug war leaders. (Note: When statements from the IOM report follow the drug warriors' opinions, the page numbers refer to the "pre-publication copy" of the IOM report, released on 3/17/99.) * "[IOM's report] is little more than a `thinly veiled effort' to promote legalization of the drug, [U.S.] Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) said," according to an Associated Press article that appeared in the _Atlanta Journal_ on March 19. "Barr argued that the panel was heavily influenced by the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization of marijuana for medical uses." * According to a March 22 _USA Today_ article, U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Florida) "announced plans to hold hearings in late April on drug legalization and medical marijuana and called the Institute of Medicine report `the biggest waste of money in the entire war on drugs'." (MPP hopes to have the opportunity to testify in defense of the science supporting medicinal marijuana.) * According to a March 18 UPI article, "[U.S. Rep. Bill] McCollum [R-Florida] says the report may encourage people to smoke pot." (In actuality, the IOM report said, "The existing data are consistent with the idea that this would not be a problem if the medical use of marijuana were as closely regulated as other medications with abuse potential" [page ES.7].) * "Officials with the [U.S.] Department of Health and Human Services almost immediately responded by saying they would not dispense marijuana to individual patients until more clinical research showed it was safe," according to a Knight Ridder article that ran in the _Nashville Tennessean_ on March 21 (despite the fact that the IOM report said that "although a drug is normally approved for medical use only on proof of its `safety and efficacy,' patients with life-threatening conditions are sometimes [under protocols for `compassionate use'] allowed access to unapproved drugs whose benefits and risks are uncertain" [page 1.3]). * According to the _Washington Post_ "For the Record" feature on March 19, Attorney General Janet Reno was grilled at a March 18 news conference with the question, "In light of the government- ordered study that was released yesterday on the medical uses of marijuana, should federal law, which criminalizes medical use of marijuana, be amended?" Though she was asked essentially the same thing three different times, Reno never gave a straight answer as to whether or not patients should be arrested. After skirting the question three times, she said, "And I think it is an important report for us to focus on and to figure what is the next step, what's the appropriate step." (Now that a month has passed, MPP believes it is time for the Attorney General to answer the question and say what the next step is -- continuing to criminalize patients or not?) * Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) President Joseph Califano's op-ed published in the _Wall Street Journal_ on March 26, criticized "the press's sloppy summaries of it" and the report itself, saying that IOM "fails to discuss mounting statistical and scientific evidence that children who smoke pot are much likelier than those who don't to use drugs like cocaine, heroin and LSD." (In actuality, the IOM report considered all worthwhile data -- apparently rejecting bogus research like CASA's -- and concluded that marijuana "does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the most significant predictor or even the cause of heavy drug abuse," noting that, in the rare instances that marijuana users are exposed to other drugs and give them a try, "[I]t is the legal status of marijuana that makes it a gateway drug" [pages 3.24 and 3.22, respectively].) * "The push for `medical marijuana' laws is not about relieving suffering. It's about decriminalizing pot and, ultimately, other illicit drugs. And those driving the issue are recreational- marijuana smokers. The latest weapon in their arsenal is a report from the Institute of Medicine," wrote Family Research Council's Robert Maginnis in a _USA Today_ "Opposing View" column on April 12. "Legalizing smoked marijuana for medicinal purposes ... could boost the use of pot by teenagers," he said (despite the fact that the IOM report concluded that "there are no convincing data to support this concern" [page ES.7]). * A March 18 article in the _Boston Globe_ quotes Partnership for a Drug-Free America Executive Vice President Steve Dnistrian saying that "the report's findings could send the wrong message about marijuana to children" (despite the fact that the IOM report said that "there is no evidence that the medical marijuana debate has altered perceptions among adolescents about the risks of marijuana use" [page 3.28]). * Continuing to promote the same unfounded assertion, Phoenix House President Mitchell Rosenthal implied that IOM's recommendations are "going to make marijuana use by adolescents a more likely event," in a March 19 _New York Times_ article. * Long-time, international anti-marijuana activist Gabriel Nahas, M.D., issued a news release on March 25 criticizing the IOM report for numerous "serious omissions." Nahas then argued that "the IOM principal investigators were very attentive to the opinions of a Mr. Chuck Thomas who heads the Marijuana Policy Project," and he even accused MPP of using "Nazi" rhetoric. MPP cites the aforementioned comments as evidence that the federal government has no intention of changing its medicinal marijuana laws in accordance with IOM's recommendations. Despite ONDCP Director Barry McCaffrey's claim that he was "delighted" with the report (in his March 17 news release and countless media interviews), his deputy director is now asserting that patients should be arrested. In fact, McCaffrey even told California Attorney General Bill Lockyer that he "would be violating federal law and risking arrest" if he provided confiscated marijuana to scientists in California who want to conduct medicinal marijuana research, according to an April 2 editorial in the _Orange County Register_. "McCaffrey is obviously set on maintaining criminal penalties for medicinal marijuana-using patients," said MPP's Chuck Thomas. "As the months tick away, it will become more and more obvious that we need to continue changing state laws until the federal government has no choice but to change its inhumane medicinal marijuana laws." "My personal case history was featured in the IOM report, and IOM said that AIDS patients like me should have legal access to marijuana," said Greg Scott, an MPP member residing in Florida. "McCaffrey's office has refused to budge. So I continue to live in fear of being arrested." ================================================================= MPP's challenge: If asked "Should patients who use medicinal marijuana be arrested, 'yes' or 'no'?", none of the aforementioned drug warriors will go on record saying, "Yes, they should," or "No, they should not," -- because their true answer is obviously "yes," which they don't want to admit. That is why it is remarkable that ONDCP Deputy Director Donald Vereen actually went so far as to say that he supports the existing policy of arresting patients. ================================================================= For relevant excerpts from the IOM report, please see http://www.mpp.org/science.html. - END - ======================================================================== HOW TO SUPPORT THE MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT: To support MPP's work and receive the quarterly newsletter, "Marijuana Policy Report," please send $25.00 annual membership dues to: Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) P.O. Box 77492 Capitol Hill Washington, D.C. 20013 http://www.mpp.org/membrshp.html 202-232-0442 FAX -> Send "subscribe snetnews " to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -> Posted by: Firedraake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
