Drug Czar Praises House Of Representatives For Vote On So-called "medical" Marijuana

[Lunar Loops]

This corker from the white house drug policy site. There are some classic quotes in here......"F.D.A.'s rigorous standards which have safeguarded our medical supply for over 100 years".....oh yeah, SWIM hopes all SWIYs out there who happen to be US citizens feel suitably safeguarded. Even better still they take quotes from other reports to use for their own spin, like this lifted from an IOM report "marijuana is not a modern medicine". No shit Sheriff Sherlock and your point is? I see only modern pharmeceuticals, made by large corporations can be of benefit to mankind. Hmmm, interesting viewpoint.

Anyway here it is:

WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR PRAISES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR VOTE ON SO-CALLED "MEDICAL" MARIJUANA AMENDMENT

(Washington, D.C.)—John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and President Bush's "Drug Czar," today issued the following statement regarding Wednesday's vote on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment:
"We commend the House of Representatives for seeing through the pro-drug politics of the drug legalization movement. For years, pro-drug groups seeking the legalization of marijuana and other drugs have preyed on the compassion of Americans to promote their political agenda and bypass F.D.A.'s rigorous standards which have safeguarded our medical supply for over 100 years. Marinol—the synthetic form of THC and the psychoactive ingredient contained in marijuana—is already legally available for prescription by physicians whose patients suffer from pain and chronic illness."
"Our Nation has the highest standards and most sophisticated institutions in the world for determining the safety and effectiveness of medication. Our national medical system relies on proven scientific research, not popular opinion. To date, science and research have not determined that smoking a crude plant is safe or effective. We have a responsibility as a civilized society to ensure that the medicine Americans receive from their doctors is effective, safe, and free from the pro-drug politics that are being promoted in America under the guise of medicine."
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published a review of the available scientific evidence in an effort to assess the potential health benefits of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. The review concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for any long-term medical use, and a subsequent IOM report declared, "marijuana is not a modern medicine." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, American Medical Association, National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and National Multiple Sclerosis Society all reject the use of smoked marijuana under the auspices of "medical" purposes.

[The Doors]

This article enrages me. How can they say that the results on their scientific researches have said that marijuana is not an effective and safe medicine. Hundreds of studies have proven otherwise, and they came from many sources not just the government. Nature itself has proven that marijuana is a safe drug/medicine. It has been used by humans for thousands of years and unquestionably, marijuana has no related deaths and is proven to have non-addictive attributes.

Sure one can build tolerance to marijuana if used more then occasionaly, but so do all the other meds and higher doses of the other medication can be a lot more dangerous then simple 3-4extra tokes of weed. It's simple really, patients become addicted to the meds therefore the med itself becomes the long term solution and guess who cashes in on all of this...

Users here can testify how marijuana has changed their lives in a better way to solve problems(mental or physical). SWIM himself usues marijuana as a sleeping aid but it is not prescribed by a doctor.