Walter In Denver

Marijuana As Medicine

Something astounding happened this past Thursday. The U.S. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources held a hearing on the topic "Marijuana and Medicine: The Need for a Science- Based Approach." The irony being that this committee is one of the leading forces obstructing scientific research of the subject.

Somehow Rob Kampia, director of the Marijuana Policy Project, was invited to testify. That was a big mistake on the part of the Subcommittee. As Pete Guither said, Kampia "[t]ore them a new one."

Here are some bits from Kampia's testimony:

With respect to the title of this hearing, “Marijuana and Medicine: The Need for a Science-Based Approach,” I would like to say upfront that the Marijuana Policy Project welcomes a “science-based approach” to this subject. In fact, we would celebrate such an approach because it would undoubtedly bring an end to the unnecessary and immoral federal attacks on doctors, patients, and caregivers who are acting legally under state law.

Unfortunately, current federal policies are not based on science; rather, they are based on myths and lies. Worse yet, the federal government is currently blocking scientific inquiry into the therapeutic benefits of marijuana. This collusion in support of delusion is an outrage and must be stopped. State medical marijuana laws must be respected, and research into the therapeutic
benefits of marijuana must be allowed to proceed expeditiously.
[...]
Opponents of medical marijuana claim that marijuana has no medical benefits. The chairman of this subcommittee gave a typical demonstration of this tactic in July 2003 during a debate on the House floor. During that debate he said that marijuana “does not help sick people. … There are no generally recognized health benefits to smoking marijuana.”
The chairman, and those who agree with him, could not be more wrong.

It doesn't look like Mr. Kampia was trying to win any friends on the committee. Read the rest of his testimony in this PDF file. What the chairman, Rep. Souder, said is akin to claiming the world is flat. Here's a list of some of the properties of marijuana.

-It's a powerful anti-nausea drug

-It's an effective pain reliever.

-It's an effective anti-stress medicine

-It has a very low level of dangerous side effects, especially compared to other drugs of comparable effect.

-It's inexpensive to produce.

Nothing on the above list is particularly controversial. In fact, if any of those points were proved false it would be quite a suprise to the medical community. That's precisely why the drug warriors are trying so hard to suppress any large scale research.

Sadly, any argument pro marijuana invites a standard template of criticism of the arguer, so here's my standard disclaimer. I don't smoke the stuff. I don't have much interest in doing so.

I do have an interest in having it easily available if I or any of my loved ones should ever become seriously ill.

Posted by Walter at April 4, 2004 10:50 AM