From: Henryindivideo@webtv.net   
      
    Congress needs to change the law.   
   Posted on Sat, Jun. 25, 2005   
   Commentary   
   Should medical marijuana be legalized?   
   Doctors should be free to prescribe pain medication that works   
   Conservatives' defense of states' rights over the Goliath of federal   
   government intervention verges on the pathological. So it seems a teeny   
   bit hypocritical for Republicans in Congress to suddenly support the   
   recent Supreme Court ruling that federally outlaws medical marijuana in   
   the 10 states that had legalized it for medicinal purposes.   
   But perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Enlightened conservative discourse   
   on the topic of marijuana harkens back at least to 1937, when Harry   
   Anslinger, U.S. commissioner of narcotics, testified: "marijuana causes   
   white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any   
   others."   
   Now, I'm not arguing that conservatives today would still champion   
   Anslinger's view, but our perceptions of marijuana remain laden with   
   prejudice that should not be allowed to hinder medical progress. There's   
   a dark side to every medical issue.   
   But conservatives are so overly concerned with the "slippery slope" that   
   they assume complex issues are unmanageable and that evil will   
   undoubtedly triumph. That may be true in the pages of the Old Testament,   
   but much of medical history is based on risk and experimentation. If it   
   weren't, we wouldn't have vaccinations, heart transplants or any number   
   of routine medical procedures we benefit from today.   
   Administered under a doctor's care, marijuana alleviates pain and the   
   nausea experienced by cancer and AIDS patients, according to Institute   
   of Medicine research. Admittedly, research on the therapeutic benefits   
   of marijuana is still thin. Richard Cohen, director of the National   
   Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says that marijuana   
   research is "blocked at every turn" and adds that renowned AIDS doctor   
   Donald Abrams couldn't obtain approval for research on marijuana as an   
   appetite stimulant in AIDS patients for five years.   
   While some argue that medical marijuana can be addictive, few would   
   contend it has the same dependency risk as the medications hospitals   
   routinely administer for debilitating pain. Conservatives aren't   
   clamoring for hospitals to turn off the morphine drip for dying cancer   
   patients because there's a heroin problem in the world. But they want to   
   draw a line in the sand over medical marijuana? Please. Show me the   
   logic.   
   Diane Glass and Shanti Feldhan are columnists for Universal Press   
   Syndicate.   
   © 2005 Journal Gazette and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.   
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