In Defense of Intelligence, Washington Post Columnist Looks Like A Fool
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October 22, 2009
I can only imagine how many letters to the editor have arrived at the Washington Post after it published columnist Charles Lane’s intellectually flaccid and insulting column (i.e., Mr. Lane mocks Angel Raich’s medical condition and cites an alleged NORML survey that does not exist) entitled ‘Medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence‘.
Below is a letter-to-the-editor that was sent by NORML board member Paul Kuhn…You too can weigh in on Mr. Lane’s ‘defense’ of intelligence (and lack of compassion) here.
[Paul Armentano updates: The letter to the Washington Post from Paul Kuhn was just one letter penned by NORML representatives. CALIFORNIA NORML, for instance, responded with a separate letter as well, as have several others. As a result the Post has now added this, half-hearted in my opinion, 'clarification':
Clarification: An earlier version of this posting said Angel Raich claimed that each of the medical conditions cited in her lawsuit was life-threatening. She asked me to explain that she only contended that one of her conditions -- chronic weight loss due to an inability to keep food down -- was life-threatening. I am happy to oblige. She is about to undergo an operation to reduce her Schwannoma, which is a benign brain tumor.]
Medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence
The Justice Department says it’s backing off the prosecution of people who smoke pot or sell it in compliance with state laws that permit “medical marijuana.” Attorney General Eric Holder says “it will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers.” Party hardy! I mean — let the healing begin!
I don’t think the federal government should be spending a whole lot of time on small-time druggies, and I’m undecided about legalizing pot, which enjoys 44 percent support among the general public, according to a recent poll. Recreational use is not the wisest thing — and if my 12-year-old son is reading this, that means you! — but it’s no more harmful than other drugs (e.g., alcohol) and impossible to eradicate. On the other hand, I worry it’s a gateway to harder stuff. So I think we probably should have an open debate about decriminalization.
But it should be a real debate, about real decriminalization, and not clouded — pardon the expression — by hokum about “medical marijuana.” To the extent it puts the attorney general’s imprimatur on the notion that people are getting pot from “caregivers” to deal “with serious illnesses” — as opposed to growing their own or flocking to “dispensaries” just to get high — the Justice Department’s move is not so constructive.
I do not deny that for some people, including some terminal cancer patients and pain-wracked AIDS sufferers, marijuana is a blessed relief. Let ‘em smoke, I say, just as the Justice Department has usually ignored such cases since long before Holder spoke up. But if you believe there is any scientific evidence that smoked marijuana has the multiplicity of therapeutic uses that advocates claim — well, I’ve got a bag of oregano I’d like to sell you.
Usually, drugs have to pass exacting testing by the Food and Drug Administration before they go on the market. There’s a good reason for this: we don’t want people spending money on products that might be ineffective or actually harmful. In California and elsewhere, however, snake oil — sorry, “medical marijuana” — got on the market via a different route: popular referendum. The pot for sale in dispensaries is subject to none of the purity controls that actual pharmaceutical drugs must meet. Indeed, the new DOJ policy essentially recognizes a gray market for pot, leaving these supposedly seriously ill people at the mercy of their dealers — I mean caregivers — with respect to quality and efficacy.
What other substances should we handle this way? Cocaine? Laetrile? Didn’t President Obama just sign a bill authorizing the FDA to regulate the nicotine content of tobacco? And I thought he promised to “restore science to its rightful place.”
Under California’s law, you don’t even need a prescription to get pot (which would admittedly have been a problem, since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency controls who gets a prescription pad, and not many doctors would use theirs to prescribe an illegal drug). All it takes is a “written or oral recommendation” from a physician.
A few years ago, a California woman called Angel Raich took her defense of medical pot all the way to the Supreme Court. She lost on the legal issue, which had nothing to do with the medical effectiveness of pot. Along the way, though, she claimed that she was suffering from “life-threatening” scoliosis, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, bruxism, endometriosis, headache, rotator cuff syndrome, uterine fibroids, and Schwannoma. The Latin names might have snowed some judges, but physicians recognized each of these conditions as a common, non-life-threatening problem for which conventional treatments were available. Raich listed a cornucopia of potent drugs, from Vicodin to Methadone, that she had tried previously and gotten no satisfaction. I’m not a doctor, but I thought she might consider a consultation for hypochondria, or perhaps marijuana dependency.
This is not an isolated instance. According to a survey by NORML, the pro-”medical marijuana” organization, which can be expected to emphasize the desperate health of users, only 22 percent of California medical marijuana users suffer from AIDS-related disease. Most of the rest have more subjective maladies such as “chronic pain” or “mood disorders.”
Raich’s physician was Frank Lucido, a well-known Berkeley doctor and pro-pot activist — he also makes money as an expert witness on “medical marijuana” — whose Web site boasts that he was “investigated by the Medical Practices Board of California for cannabis evaluation practices in 2003, and fully exonerated.” The case involved his recommendation of marijuana to treat attention deficit disorder in a 16-year-old boy, but, as I say, he was fully exonerated.
In a brilliant article (requires subscription) on this subject in the Hastings Center Report, a bioethics journal, lawyer and anesthesiologist Peter J. Cohen noted that “medical marijuana” groups have been notably passive about demanding FDA testing and approval for this purported elixir. Instead, they took their case to the people. As Cohen argued, this is no way to make health policy: “medical marijuana,” he wrote, should be “subjected to the same scientific scrutiny as any drug proposed for use in medical therapy, rather than made legal for medical use by popular will.” The “medical marijuana” movement may not be a threat to our civilization, but it is an insult to our intelligence.
Re: Charles Lane’s column on medical marijuana.
Dear Editors,
In the most inane column I have read in the Post, the most offensive comments are those labeling Angel Raich a hypochondriac fraud. Next Thursday, she will undergo brain surgery at Stanford Hospital.
The most puzzling comments are those acknowledging marijuana is a “blessed relief” for certain patients and at the same time “an insult to our intelligence.”
The most misinformed comments are those asking why marijuana is not FDA-approved when the government prohibits research on marijuana.
When my late wife was battling cancer, marijuana relieved her pain after the best legal medications failed. I’ll believe my own eyes over Mr. Lane’s confused words.
Sincerely yours,
Paul H. Kuhn
Nashville TN
128 Responses to “In Defense of Intelligence, Washington Post Columnist Looks Like A Fool”
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I am truly offended, as well. So, because I’m not _dying_ of AIDS or cancer, I should be denied the only affordable, gentle, safe medicine for my medical issues? I should take your Big Pharma drugs and kill myself slowly instead, unable to work in the meantime?
Screw you, in your ivory tower.
The comments made by Mr. Lane towards Angel Raich are completely disrespectful not only to her, but to all patients in need of medical marijuana. The approach in which he took to write his opinions of marijuana is for a lack of better words, offending and distastful.
-trev
Why does the US govt hold the patent on a drug that is not FDA approved?
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/257008
I just don’t understand how people can use arguments such as the fact that it is not FDA approved, and that it is a gateway drug against marijuana. The FDA speeds pharmaceuticals through the approval process so that the company can turn a profit before the side effects are realized, and the death due to the misuse and abuse of pharmaceuticals is the #2 cause of accidental death in the USA. Addiction and death result regularly from these FDA approved substances, so what is the purpose of FDA approval?
as if chronic pain and mood disorders do not matter.mr lane needs to go through those issues awhile and then see what he thinks of his quality of life. maybe he should have to try to swallow a pill to help him eat, only to throw the damn thing up. its about quality of life to….cold hearted bastard…
Wow, that really is the most offensive and uninformed article regarding medical marijuana that I’ve read in quite some time. Thankfully, most of the articles I’ve read recently are quite a bit more enlightened than this one.
‘“medical marijuana” groups have been notably passive about demanding FDA testing and approval for this purported elixir’…
“subjected to the same scientific scrutiny as any drug proposed for use in medical therapy, rather than made legal for medical use by popular will.”…
Who needs the FDA? Sure, the government makes some people feel warm and fuzzy, but really, what’s analyzing cannabis going to do? We know it works, we know by real world experience. So what if it’s ‘crude’ plant matter that we’re combusting and inhaling — it’s safer than caffeine, which by the way, is FDA approved. Don’t take too much caffeine, you might have a heart attack and die. Oh, and don’t take too much cannabis either, you’ll supplement your bodies endocannabinoid system and feel better, maybe even take a nap.
This is ludicrous, to say that medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence. The fact that anyone listens to people like this guy isn’t going to make anything better. Opinions like this just keep the bigots bigoted, and the fence-sitters on the fence. Some people doubt the efficacy of cannabis for many conditions,why? Because they have some daft complex that people are really just using it to ‘get high’, and that it will enslave thousands or millions of people just like opium addictions in the past in Asia. Sorry, Cannabis is in a different league.
I understand how people could feel threatened by this, and perhaps they should, because it prompts a change in worldview, for the ones that come around to the idea. Some people will remain permanently biased against alternative therapies like this, perhaps even likening it to homeopathy just to attempt to discredit it. The fact is, Cannabis is effective, and the people who want to use it for medical reasons should be allowed to do so. I think it should be the same for personal use as well, but that just opens pandoras box for all those people who are inclined to think of such a miraculous plant as foul and disgusting.
What is that guy trying to prove, that people are always skeptical and afraid of things from a culture they don’t understand? Drugs should never have been made illegal, because it makes criminals out of ordinary people that use them. Prohibition of anything does NOTHING to curb the supply or demand, it just makes criminal activity the only defender of ‘rights’, which is rather ridiculous.
That article was an insult to my intelligence. Just more status-quo, ‘i fear the dark that my light cannot illuminate’, fear-mongering drivel. Who cares that Mr. Lane has a personal problem with cannabis, because many other people don’t have that problem, in fact, they have problems that cannabis does a damn good job at alleviating.
Tool.
To Carrie: even though your trying to sound intelligent, your really just embarrassing all of us who support medical marijuana. this entire site is devoted to provide scientific evidence, why would Paul need to reiterate all of it in his article? your just as misinformed as Mr. Lane and just as offensive. O, and his personal opinion is not subjective, he witnessed first hand the effects of mj on cancer patients, which gives him a much stronger defense than quoting some study. I feel for all of those people who are fighting illness and are having positive results from mj. keep it up!
I have a choice. I can take a hit or two vicodin to fight off the terrible bone pain that my disease (myelofibrosis) causes. Unfortunately, because of ignorant people like this, I have to sneak around to medicate a safer way, but I can by pills all day long at my grocery store’s pharmacy. I find it hard to believe that the Post would run such an amazingly lopsided story as this.
To clarify, I meant to say, I can take a hit of weed or two vicodin… still a little loopy from last night’s vicodin.
I pray for him and his family- that his 12 year old son never gets sick and need releif. Man…People should stop and seriously think about things before they start spouting insanities…Poor…poor man….
here is the letter I am going to send to Washington Post. Let me know if it is ok:
Dear Editors,
I am appalled by the this horrific column by Charles Lane. This man is putting misguided, and misinformed opinions into peoples minds that read
the Washing Post. “I worry this is a gateway to harder stuff.”, Charles wrote. The latest scientific research has proven that marijuana is not a
gateway drug. On top of that, insulting Angel Raich that has many medical conditions, that marijuana could be a very good use for. Libel -
Printing or disseminating false statements that harm someone. In this column there were false statements about marijuana that harm medical
patients that use marijuana. Also, false statements about Angel Raich (basically stating that she is a liar about her conditions), that harm her.
Thank you for your time, have a great day.
I’m sure that the FDA has already approved marijuana back in 1992. To bad it’s in a pill form,which i’m positive you can only get from these beautiful drug companies(dealers) we seem to support in our country.MARINOL……. Anyway, yeah this guy sucks!!!!!
[...] October 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: angel raich, charles lane, medical marijuana, norml, washington post NORML assessment of the article, here: http://blog.norml.org/2009/10/22/in-defense-of-intelligence-washington-post-columnist-looks-like-a-f… [...]
Your email was nice. Mine wasn’t.
not that I advocate underage consumption, but this guy’s “12 year old son” is going to be smoking bud before he knows it, if he is not already. get real guy
This is sad, there are so many folks out there who are suffering due to the ingnorance of others…not fair! I have severe chronic pain, due to back problems, I had a 3 level spinal fusion 2 years ago and I have Fibromyalgia and the only thing I have found to relieve some of my pain is marijuana and it does not bring along so many of those adverse side effects that make you even more miserable. I am thankful to God for creating this herbal medication, I just wish more folks would open their eyes.
The question now is weather we should attack the low life who wrote the article, or the idiotic Washington Post for allowing such nonsense to be published. How can they expect to do such things and not even ponder the consequences.
Mr. Lane, you are an insult to your own intelligence (or lack there of).
if marijuana were legally able to be evaluated by the FDA, it would pass with flying colors…. i can only imagine the list of conditions it would be approved for and the lack of serious side effects…. here are the side effects: hungry, happy, sleepy…. dont wanna be sleepy? buy sativa…. plus we have an ace up our sleeve…. folks, oil prices are rising while demand is falling… we are getting taken for a ride… if we let the public know that cannabis can be used for all that it can be used for, support would grow tremendously. I wish NORML and MPP would pair up with the hemp organizations and end prohibition once and for all. We could be running instead of crawling.
The first thing I thought of after reading Angel Raich’s conditions and his reply that she was not going to die because of them and that she might perhaps be a hypochondriac was how heartless he sounds, and how can someone be THAT dependent on marijuana? She obviously took her fight to the Supreme Court for some reason and it could be said that marijuana was her thing but it certainly seems to be an issue with this man that ill people are using marijuana for recreation. Even if they were so what! I would like to point out to people who read this that opiates and cocaine treatments can cause allergic reactions and marijuana would then become a viable option.
I am not suprised that charles lane wrote his article or that some editor saw fit to publish it. i am however, deeply offended that such arrogant, ill-informed and stupid ranting should be touted under the banner of ‘intelligence’.
get on line, mr lane, check just a small selection of the results of scientific research into the medical properties of cannabis.
take yourself off to the library and check the rich history of the medical uses of cannabis over the last, shall we say, 3500 years.
check how many years it stood as a primary medicine in your country … then check when it suddenly became illegal and maligned.
if you have the time and inclination you may care to winkle out the scientific conclusions that thc actively inhibits the growth of breast cancer, amongst others.
you could display a little intelligence and do all or any of these things but i doubt you will.
it’s probably too difficult with your head so obviously
wedged firmly up your ass.
Paul, I really do not understand how our government continues to get away with there apparent beliefs on this issue. It has cleary been documented that cannabis has been used as a theraputic remedy for over 5,000 years. How can they consistently avoid the facts and deminish the truth? It seems to me to be just as corrupt as any other topic amongst them! (added by Mobile using Mippin)
Are you sure Calvina Fay did not write that column under an alias?
My mom died of small cell lung cancer and know for a fact if she were to blaze she would have ate some solid food and not died of malnutrition, thats what kills cancer patients the illusion that they feel well due to the overdose of pain killer and lack of nutrients, Marijuana may not be the direct reason people get better, healthier, yet it sure does start the process to recovery like no other pill, she was even on that marijuana pill and its not the same. Bullshit is what these people will spew out of their mouth to keep their paycheck coming in. I want to thank every other Medical Marijuana supporter and well recreational user, because like you, I like to come home smoke a bowl and watch some survivor man while I eat my frozen pizza and say, that would suck, because i’d be starving.
I cannot say that Mr. Lane is a complete idiot, perhaps he just dosn’t have all the facts. Mr. Lane,(maybe he’ll read this) I have treated successfully 4 skin cancers on my head, neck, and face. One doctor in Texas called what I have done a miracle. Another has told me that the 5 other lesions I have under treatment at this time look great, and to continue treatment. Compounds found in the cannabid plant WILL cure cancer, I am living proof.
Lookie… Mr. Kuhn is from Nashville! WooHoo!
Last year’s medical bill only covered dying people, and it failed. That’s Tennessee for you. Ignore the facts, praise the racist Nixon without actually praising him, and finally, deny a natural right of existence to dying people because church says its wrong. Land of the Free, indeed…
Mr. Kuhn may not have used statistics, studies, numbers, spreadsheets, or irrefutable data, but even though these things exist, I think he made his point without them. Let’s face it… to the average Tennessee reader, facts are boring.
The FDA has to scrutinize drugs released by pharmaceutical companies because they are unnatural and made entirely of chemicals. With those products, there is the actual danger of overdose, serious physical and psychological side effects and “even death”. Do I really need to say more?
I do think that NORML could have sent a bit of a more comprehensive letter to them. I agree that the letter sent seems pretty weak. At least it was something though. Thanks for doing all that you do, NORML. I support you more than the MPP right now.
[Paul Armentano responds: The letter to the Washington Post from Paul Kuhn was just one letter penned by NORML representatives. CALIFORNIA NORML, for instance, responded with a separate letter as well, as have several others. As a result the Post has now added this, half-hearted in my opinion, clarification:
Clarification: An earlier version of this posting said Angel Raich claimed that each of the medical conditions cited in her lawsuit was life-threatening. She asked me to explain that she only contended that one of her conditions -- chronic weight loss due to an inability to keep food down -- was life-threatening. I am happy to oblige. She is about to undergo an operation to reduce her Schwannoma, which is a benign brain tumor.]
I’m amazed at how many comments there are on the Washington Post page! I hope Lane’s editor actually reads his next opinion article and ensures that some actual citations or facts are used in his terrible, uneducated and offensive writing.
Here come the haters.
What a j–ka–!!!!!!!!
What boggles my mind is that these days we use maggots in treating medical conditions but you can’t even THINK about using marijuana. What’s that about?
I always amazes me when a so-called journalist can spout off about something they no nothing about. If you’ve never enjoyed a good joint for relief be it for physical relief or stress relief then they have no right to pretend they can comment on it. Maybe you’re related to Harry Anslinger the idiot that started cannabis prohibition in the first place or Bill O’Reilly from FOX. Willie Nelson hit it right on the head when he said it’s the best way to relieve stress. Cannabis is just a plant. By the way it’s also the best way to get rid of a hangover. I’ve smoked for 35 years and enjoyed every minute of it. The only problem with cannabis is not caused by the use of it but by the paranoia of having to hide and look over your shoulder everytime you want a toke. The government should not be able to tell me what I can put in my body as along as I’m not hurting anyone. Harper wants to put me in jail for relaxing? Whenever it does become legal people will shake their heads and wonder what all the fuss was about. I’d rather smoke a joint than take some pill which has too may side-effects to mention any day. Legalize and regulate and do something useful with the money saved, like build hospitals instead of prisons. Amnesty for so-called drug criminals. Abolish the DEA. End the Drug War.
An insult to intelligence?! Has this douche even seen any commercials on T.V (or even watched MTV on that note)? C’mon! Mass media, and the people who run it are whats truly insulting to our intelligence, not pot. In fact, I’m positive all the music out there in the world wouldn’t be nearly as good if some of the artists didn’t smoke some ganja or take some type of mind altering chemical every now and then. Insulting? Hardly. More like influential.
“But if you believe there is any scientific evidence that smoked marijuana has the multiplicity of therapeutic uses that advocates claim — well, I’ve got a bag of oregano I’d like to sell you.”
Talk about “insulting one’s intelligence,” there is real science backing medical marijuana! How dare you say otherwise without investigating this truth? Any simple Internet search will prove this is a dangerous lie!
Now you want to be even more dishonest and sell oregano on the street. Get real author, you just hate pot smokers! Get help, please.
what a dick. science based conclusions? as if carrie even knows herself of what the fuck she is speaking. Your pseudo-science based conclusions combined with unadultered ignorance is weak at best ma’dam. If YOU knew the poll supporting your side didnt even exsist then why would you even talk on their behalf in the first place? Every person is biochemically different and the only way these ignorant fucks will ever learn anything is to be put in the patients shoes. You dont know what the fuck other people go through, and just because you dont have have these conditions, doesnt mean they exist. ignorant fucks
also, not to add. there have been numerous amount of other research going on in the world. but yet just like uneducated europeans of the past, the world doesnt revolve around you. there is a world outside the us. am i right? or is that a figment of the american peoples imagination. just as these conditions.
FTW
Charles Lane is without question a typical Washingtonian. The ELITE thinker among the rest of the ignorant that occupy these 50 states. His cup runneth over with knowledge and wisdom. I mean the key word to this riveting article from this pillar of society was when he got right to the old worn out over used Washington propaganda lie using the “gateway” word.
If this is what the Washington Post has to offer its readers there’s hardly any question why antiquated hard print will soon be put in the halls of the Smithsonian right next to the civil war relics and other useless artifacts.. The sooner the better. As much information as is available on this subject justifying its tremendous value for people in pain, to have Mr. Lane write an article of this nature is nothing more than the ultimate form of government propaganda supported by the Washington Post owner and editor. Mr. Lane is so ignorant of the information on this subject he should be removed from writing anything of substance because he is obviously brain-dead. He should do the obituaries, it suits his intelligence..(Apologies to all the dead)
Charles is probably paid off to continue the pointless propaganda that supports alcohol and cigaret companies. The good news is that we have the upper hand due to the increasing number of people willing to re-legalizing marijuana. Scientific test have been going on long enough for every one to know of the good effects that cannabinoids have on human bodies. So unless he has scientific facts from an association that is neutral to this subject, he’ll just continue to look like the rest of the clowns that dance to the tune of their master. Dance Charles, dance and entertain without consciousness for the money like a stripper.
CM
P.S. I’m sorry if I’ve offended any strippers with this horrible comparison of a shell of a man.
That column is an insult to my intelligence… I used to think highly of the post but this really lowered my respect for them.
Charles Lane is just scared. He is afraid of the truth and afraid of change.
Didn’t NORML in Canada call Rick Simpson a snake oil salesman?
Insulting as well.
I do not know of the woman he speaks of. However, I *do* know about basic persuasive letter etiquette, and the biggest point to remember:
Never use sarcasm!
It makes your letter look weak. You should be able to win the audience over with *facts* not fancy words. If you cannot, then research what you’re saying more because *facts* are everything.
Now don’t read me wrong, I’m a fan of sarcasm. But, in a formal, persuasive letter, it’s just not acceptable.
Secondly, the opening statement: “Medical marijuana is an insult to our intelligence” was *never * justified. He never mentioned that again, he just *said* it. Please *prove* that it is insulting out intelligence. Or you have not point putting it up there.
There are more bits of information that were brought up but never touched upon. Some being:
“I worry it’s a gateway to harder stuff.” Why? And how? How is it a gateway? Bring up facts to prove your side.
“Under California’s law, you don’t even need a prescription to get pot” Two words: prove it! List documents, give links, I don’t care. But don’t mention something unless you are willing to *prove it*
“only 22 percent of California medical marijuana users suffer from AIDS-related disease.” Again, prove it.
There is a line used often on the internet “pictures or it didn’t happen.” Please exercise use of that line in anything you wish to *persuade* someone with.
In the end though, I do not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the end for your right to say it.
Charlie should probably go back and examine the exact correlations between the law and the ability to establish “medical marijuana” with out the people. Supreme Justices make it impossible.
And before you go harping on the majority of a population Charlie, check the social implications of your statements. You really degraded the whole stance an entire state and 13 others have taken with your description of reason for their actions.
Try researching a topic thoroughly before writing about it. what a jackass. i can`t say this is fact, but i read somewhere that marijuana was the first prescribed medicine.. anyone know? (added by Mobile using Mippin)
This is total horseshit. I have suffered from massive migraines since I was 2 Years old. No the meds don’t work. If I happen to get a migraine, then I will sleep for 2 to 3 days non-stop, not even getting up to pee. When I finally do wake, I usually still have a very bad headache. My fear is that when I sleep these migraines off, I might not wake from it. Marijuana is the only thing that even eases it off at worst and totally gets rid of it at best. I have also had family that has had cancer and that is the only pain relief and their ability to eat and actually keep it down. Let’s get it legalized for those who have to break the law to live.
I dont understand why people like Lane are so against change when it is a progressive step forward in a supposedly free country. Sorry Mr. Lane, but one day in the future your 12 year old son will use marijuana. Hopefully for recreational use, and not because he suffers from cancer or AIDS. I myself would much rather my adolescent son use marijuana than alcohol or tobacco. And in regards to the FDA testing a product in order to make sure its safe? That is false entirely. Have you never heard of OxyContin, Dilauded, Opana, Percocet…. Like seriously, the FDA has approved some of the most toxic, addictive, and deadly drugs to have ever plagued our society. If that woman wanted to use a non-lethal and non-addictive substance to treat her illness because other highly addictive drugs had not work, then she should be able to…. And thanks to the Obama administration she can. You are NOT a doctor Mr. Lane; therefore, your suggestions of what she should or shouldnt take is irrellivant. Its a proud day to live in a FREE America!! Thank God for FREEDOM!!!
I am on the fence about completely legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana…. HOWEVER THESE DAMN POTHEADS SUCK AND THE DEA IS STUPID FOR LIGHTENING UP ON THEM.
This man is a genius guys. GENIUS.
—————-
On a more serious note, how can anyone in a sober state of mind take this article seriusly?
Eh–Lane is a moron, but his underlying point is worth taking seriously. I don’t think it’s necessarily inaccurate to conclude that many medical marijuana patients are using it as a means to obtain quasi-legal green for recreational purposes. After all, the conditions for which it can be recommended are ill-defined in some states, and the ordinarily healthy “under 30″ demographic is fairly heavily represented. It’s not much of a stretch to figure out what they’re up to.
I think this is actually a problem for the medical marijuana movement, and it seems to undermine the credibility of those in favor of it. While true that we can’t get FDA approval so long as the government prohibits its research, we can still honor the spirit of the medical system (and lend credibility to MMJ as a legitimate medicine) by having doctors exercise some discretion before writing a recommendation. Someone truly in need should definitely be helped, but maybe not a well-adjusted 23 year old with an adjustment disorder. In other words, for medical marijuana to gain credibility, we need to convince those who don’t support marijuana legalization that it is a legitimate medicine–not a legal loophole. We can’t do that by dismissing their objections out of hand and labeling them as unintelligent puppets devoid of compassion.
For the record I do support full legalization, think that cannabis has some promising properties of interest to medicine, and read NORML daily to stay on top of what’s going on. I just think that we should keep the medical marijuana movement separate from the legalization movement. Trying (or even appearing as if you were trying) to discreetly advance one by playing on the emotional appeal of the other detracts from the credibility of both.