DC needs to do the right thing...

I was outraged with the comments made by Director Kerlikowske from the Office of National Drug Control Policy on Wednesday. In saying that marijuana is "dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Director Kerlikowske took a Bush-era approach to drug policy that ignores both scientific evidence and common sense.


I wish that the left hand knew what the right hand was doing in DC.

Did you know that marijuana can cure alot of diseases but yet something that grows from the ground has been deemed illegal just so pharma companies and hospitals can keep treating a disease instead of curing it. You should be ashamed of letting people die when all you have to do is, the right thing.

Denying the medical efficacy of marijuana is absurd. There is abundant scientific evidence that marijuana is a safe, effective medicine for some people. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) reported, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain, and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting, and all can be mitigated by marijuana." Since then, extensive research has confirmed marijuana's medical benefits. For example, three University of California studies published since February 2007 have found that marijuana relieved neuropathic pain, a type of pain that commonly afflicts patients with multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes, for which conventional pain drugs are notoriously inadequate.

You have stated your desire to see policy decisions driven by scientific rigor countless times. On this count, Director Kerlikowske has failed.

Secondly, I find it unfortunate that Director Kerlikowske defined marijuana as a dangerous drug when the evidence suggests that it's far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco. The consumption of alcohol is the direct cause of tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year, but there has never been a marijuana overdose death in history. The dependence and harm associated with tobacco use in America is devastating. By comparison, marijuana is remarkably benign.

For eight years under the Bush administration, Americans watched the federal government ignore science and common sense. I hope that you will take a different approach to your discussion of this issue in the future.