From: tuco@frontiernet.net   
      
   Making Sense of Weed   
   Speakers tout the benefits of medicinal marijuana   
      
   By C J Patton   
   Contributor to The Shorthorn   
      
   Clayton Jones appeared before an audience Wednesday in Lone Star Auditorium   
   and unapologetically admitted to using marijuana on a daily basis.   
      
   Jones was one of five speakers discussing the benefits of the legalization   
   of marijuana for medicinal uses. The forum was sponsored by the UTA chapter   
   of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a national organization pushing for   
   the decriminalization of marijuana. About half of the 30 students in   
   attendance were members of the organization.   
      
   Jones, an activist in favor of decriminalization, was injured in a   
   metallurgy plant in 1985 and lost both legs above the knees. His neck was   
   broken in three places and his back in seven.   
      
   "When I got out of the hospital, they had me on every drug you could ever   
   want," he said.   
      
   Jones eventually developed an allergy to doctor-prescribed painkillers. He   
   began to use marijuana for pain relief and said he agrees with the policy of   
   decriminalization. There are numerous proven benefits and studies have not   
   revealed negative effects.   
      
   "There isn't any reason people shouldn't have the knowledge that one of the   
   most effective medications is a weed," he said.   
      
   Jones said the government-sponsored anti-drug programs distort scientific   
   findings that marijuana is a proven benefit when used medicinally.   
      
   "It was medicine before H. W. Bush; how is it not medicine now?" he said.   
      
   Bryon Adinoff, a psychiatry professor at UT-Southwestern, disagreed. He said   
   that although he thinks the benefits of medicinal marijuana outweigh the   
   detriments, there are scientifically proven damaging effects of the drug.   
      
   "I hear somebody say, 'It has no danger at all.' I tend to tune them out   
   because I know that it is potentially dangerous," he said.   
      
   Marijuana usage increases risk of heart attack, cancer to the head and neck,   
   psychosis and schizophrenia, Adinoff said.   
      
   He said in spite of these findings, marijuana still has potentially   
   beneficial uses when applied in moderation.   
      
   "It's not an all-or-nothing kind of thing," he said. "It's a balance, like   
   alcohol or nicotine."   
      
   James Quinn, an addictions correction and criminology professor at the   
   University of North Texas, said he approves the legalization of marijuana   
   because the costs of prosecuting users are far too high. He said   
   imprisonment of marijuana users costs between $13,000 per year at the state   
   level and $25,000 per year at the federal level.   
      
   "You thought the war in Iraq was expensive? That's expensive," he said.   
      
   Speaking from his criminology background, Quinn said the arguments against   
   marijuana as a violent drug were lies and most likely political in nature.   
   He said the government keeps marijuana illegal to aid the drug companies and   
   that societal studies disprove misconceptions about the drug.   
      
   "Marijuana does not cause violence," he said. "A lot of people out there   
   have messed up minds, messed up lives and they also happen to smoke   
   marijuana. They commit crimes while on marijuana, but that's true of any   
   other drug."   
      
   _____________   
      
   The government lies?  Who woulda thunk it?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)