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So, due to obstruction by DEA, medical marijuana is not available. Furthermore, they persecute and prosecute people even in states that have medical marijuana laws. Synthetic THC (Marinol) is available in pill form. It does not work very well, but as a testament to the safety of THC, is category B for pregnant women (safe in pregnancy) and schedule III, the same category as drugs like codeine, darvon and lortab.

Marijuana IS medicine. Barry McCaffrey (who was my boss when I was a LTC in the US Army in Panama and chief of OB/GYN at Gorgas Hospital) said: smoked marijuana will NEVER be medicine. Then asked NIH to commission a study to finally put the issue to rest (he wanted it to further demonize marijuana). The NIH had the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issue a report, part of which Ms. Urbanville mentioned in her op ed piece of may 15, 2002. However, she neglected to mention of couple of things that give great credence to medical marijuana:

IOM comments-1999
'It will likely be years before a safe and effective cannabinoid delivery system such as an inhaler, will be available for patients. In the meantime, there are patients with debilitating symptoms for whom smoked marijuana might provide relief'

'Until a non-smoked, rapid-onset …delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting'

'Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana are within the range of effects tolerated for other medications'

'AIDS wasting patients would likely benefit from a medication that simultaneously reduces anxiety, pain and nausea while stimulating appetite'

IOM comments 1999
-there is no basis for the 'stepping stone' theory that clinical properties of marijuana lead to the use of other mind-altering drugs…this is 'social theory'… 'the latter does not suggest that the pharmacological qualities of marijuana make it a risk factor for progression to other drug use. Instead it is the legal status of marijuana that makes it a gateway drug'…italics mine.

There are many drugs out there that are better than marijuana for many of the things for which it is used. However, none are cheaper than something you could grow at home. None are potentially safer. The PDR (physician desk reference) is full of drugs that are of borderline usefulness or worse, not safe.

The AMA reported:

AMA house of delegates 2001:
'THC is moderately effective in the treatment of AIDS wasting. The ability of patients who smoke marijuana to titrate their dosage according to need and the lack of highly effective inexpensive options to treat this debilitating disease create the conditions warranting formal clinical trials of smoked marijuana as an appetite stimulant in patients with AIDS wasting syndrome'

The British Medical Association
' Allowing the prescription of THC for cancer chemotherapy and HIV/AIDS seems justified for preventing weight loss and treating anorexia in HIV/AIDS irrespective of whether the patient is experiencing nausea and or vomiting'

I will now address the issue of drug use in America. Re-legalization of marijuana- or other selectively prohibited drugs will unlikely increase use. In 1905 when the pure food and drug act became law, any one could obtain cocaine, opium etc with no restrictions. None. The addiction rate was 0.28% of the population to opium and cocaine. Today after a vigorous prosecution of the war on drugs, addiction rates are over 1%, and this does not include synthetic narcotics not then available. In Holland where marijuana use has been decriminalized, cannabis cafes operate openly and they recently authorized pharmacies to stock marijuana have a youthful use rate for marijuana and heroin that is about ½ what our is. Their homicide rate is 1/8 that of the USA. Most European countries have few or no penalties for possession of drugs for personal use. the USA has 5% of the world's population, yet 25% of the world's prison population. We arrested over 750,000 people last year for marijuana violations, 641,000 for possession alone. We have more people in jail for drug crime violations that for all crime for all causes in all of Europe with almost twice the population. For the most part, drug use is treated as a public health problem. Almost 80 million Americans do or have used illicit drugs…should they all be arrested? Jailed? In rehab? China and Iran execute drug users and still have dreadful drug problems.

President Nixon asked Republican Governors Shafer and Hughes to put the lid on marijuana. They reported:
The Shafer Commission 1972
Possession of marijuana for personal should no longer be an offense
Casual distribution of small amounts of marijuana for no or insignificant remuneration not involving profit should no longer be an offense
(endorsed by the AMA, ABA, American Association for Public Health, NEA, and National Council of Churches)


The Rand Corporation stated that prevention, harm reduction and education is 23 times more effective than persecution, prosecution, incarceration, eradication and interdiction. Yet over 70% of all dollars spent on the war on drugs goes to the latter.
If you simply look at the cost of the current war on drugs, you will be appalled:

When analyzing options to reduce societal costs of cocaine use RAND found the following relationship:
For every additional $1.00 Spent On:
Societal Benefits Are:

Source-Country Control
A LOSS of 85 cents
Interdiction
A LOSS of 68 cents
Domestic Enforcement
A LOSS of 48 cents
Treatment
A GAIN of $7.46

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in 1999, the nation spent $146,556,000,000 on the Federal, State and Local justice systems. In that year, the United States had 1,875,199 adult jail and prison inmates. Based on this information the cost per inmate year was:
-- Corrections spending alone: $26,134 per inmate
-- Corrections, judicial and legal costs: $43,297 per inmate
-- Corrections, judicial, legal and police costs: $78,154 per inmate

Source: Gifford, Sidra Lea, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, February 2002), p. 4, Table 6; Beck, Allen J., PhD, and Jennifer C. Karberg, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2000 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, March 2001), p. 2, Table 1.

Outpatient drug rehab costs about $5,000 per year.

Furthermore maintenance therapy works, but only if substances are legal:

A recently concluded study of heroin maintenance in Switzerland for the World Health Organization concluded:
A.Illicit cocaine and heroin use declined greatly.
B.The health of participants improved.
C.Housing situation improved and stabilized- most importantly there were no longer any more homeless participants.
D.Fitness for work improved considerably, those with permanent employment more than doubled from 14% to 32%.
E.The number of unemployed fell by half (from 44% to 20%)
F.A third of the patients that were on welfare, left the welfare rolls. But, others went on to welfare to compensate for their lost income from sales of drugs.
G.Income from illegal and semi-legal activities decreased significantly, from 69% of participants to 10%.
H.The number of offenders and offenses decreased by about 60% during the first 6 months of treatment.
I.The retention rate was average for treatment programs. 89% over 6 months, and 69% over 18 months.
J.More than half of the dropouts did so to switch to another form of treatment. 83 of the participants did so to switch to an abstinence-based treatment, and it is expected that this number will grow as the duration of individual treatment increases.
K.There were no overdoses from drugs prescribed by the program. Source: Robert Ali, et al, Report of the External Panel on the Evaluation of the Swiss Scientific Studies of Medically Prescribed Narcotics to Drug Addicts (New York, NY: The World Health Organization, April 1999).


John Stuart Mill, the great 19th century moralist, writing from the essay 'On Liberty':
'The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign'.

As a Unitarian Universalist in pursuit of justice equity and compassion in human relations, as well as treatment of all people with dignity and worth, who abhors the scorched earth policies the war on drugs reeks on the world in which we are interwoven and interdependent, and believes in a free and responsible search for truth I ask:
Is society better served by persecution, prosecution and incarceration of people who use a medication for relief of pain and suffering? Is that compassionate? Are people healthier for serving jail time? Does this produce better citizens? Neighbors? Families? Parents? Does this foster respect of courts and corrections? What is the goal of the war on drugs? When might we consider a victory? Or defeat? Is there a possibility of a truce? Are there no alternatives to persecution, prosecution and incarceration? Doesn't it seem as if we suffer from an impoverished sense of punitive options?

Clark Brittain
Bloomington