It seems relatively easy for politicians in both parties to turn the page on torture.
Even John McCain has gone out of his way to marginalize the seriousness of US torture practices by claiming the whole affair was no more than “bad legal advice.”
If our lawmakers can excuse and/or ignore violent felonies that are clearly contrary to both US and International law, why can’t they manage to decriminalize the use of marijuana?
While torture has not yet been proven to be a cure for anything (other than breathing), marijuana’s effects on mankind have indicated quite the opposite result. In fact, major respected studies have come to the conclusion that Marijuana has numerous curative and palliative medical applications. An Institute of Medicine report commissioned by the White House in 1997 and under the leadership of General Barry McCaffrey concurred with this growing opinion.
Led by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, contributing sources included members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. In fact, a wide swath of expertise was drawn from universities, private research labs and non-profit organizations. The report’s principal investigators “were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.”
Here is an excerpt from the study’s conclusion:
"Advances in cannabinoid science over the past 16 years have given rise to a wealth of new opportunities for the development of medically useful cannabinoid-based drugs. The accumulated data suggest a variety of indications, particularly for pain relief, antiemesis, and appetite stimulation. For patients who suffer simultaneously from severe pain, nausea, and appetite loss, such as those with AIDS or who are undergoing chemotherapy, cannabinoid drugs might offer broad-spectrum relief not found in any other single medication.”
Ironically, the same Federal government that concludes its own study by extolling marijuana’s valuable medical applications contemporaneously maintains the greatest obstructions to further research on the subject.
Worldwide, there have been nearly 20,000 published medical studies on the capacity of cannabinoids to not just palliate, but potentially moderate both life altering and life-threatening medical conditions. Included in this list are autoimmune disorders such as HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, diabetes, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and scores of other serious maladies.
A 2003 study published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics showed a connection between cannabinoids and the regression of Gliomas (brain tumors). Clinical data also suggests that cannabinoids may reduce the spread of specific cancer cells.
So with all of this promise, what's the hold-up?
First, the Feds have preserved a monopoly over the legal supply of marijuana (the only Schedule I drug they control in the absolute) and offer private research organizations virtually no support. They dispense substandard specimens (and in limited quantity) to outside scientific investigators. The net result is the crippling of all privately funded research in the United States. To date, the overwhelming amount of research on marijuana's therapeutic potential has been carried out in foreign labs. Few if any of the cures and financial pay-off for these discoveries will belong to American invention and industry.
Second (and in conflict with their own scientific conclusions), the federal government has refused to decriminalize the growing, selling and use of marijuana – even for medical purposes. States like California and others have removed or softened their laws against marijuana farming, sales and usage. However, Federal law takes precedence over State law - and the Feds have threatened to exact their rules on those States who ignore total compliance.
While this eternal lunacy plays on, real people continue to suffer - people like my wife who has endured excruciating and chronic pain for 20 years. She has no legal alternative to ingesting a steady diet of highly addictive, expensive and dangerous opiates which only serve to reduce her physical strength and mental acuity.
The political maxim seems to be “Forget weed - let them eat Oxycontin!”
A woeful irony lost on the prohibitionists - no doubt the same people who believe preaching abstinence will one day lower the teen pregnancy rate.
During a recent Town Meeting, President Obama was asked about his position on marijuana legalization. Unfortunately, his response was flippant and dismissive. I believe it’s time for the President to reevaluate the seriousness of this issue and reconsider the official position of the Federal government.
It’s now well past time for our Federal lawmakers to “Turn the Page.”
In this instance, the people being tortured by a wrong-minded policy are under-represented and ailing Americans - many of whom are wasting away in personal gulags.
They deserve more than a snicker out of their leadership.