Michael Hess

"The truth is that marijuana is not a medicine, and no credible research suggests that it is. There is a protocol to allow some drugs - like cocaine and methamphetamine - to be prescribed in limited cases. Our medical system is the best in the world, and it relies on proven scientific research, not opinions or anecdotes. The primary medical "benefit" of the numerous chemicals in marijuana are increased risk of cancer, lung damage, and poor pregnancy outcomes." [Please see sidebar.]

A BBSNews Series: A Material Breach of Marijuana Facts

BBSNews - 2003-01-15 -- The phrase "material breach" has been uttered perhaps millions of times in recent history. Most often about the impending war in Iraq that President Bush is insisting on having whether the UN goes along with it or not. CNN on Monday published an analysis of what constitutes a material breach, both in terms of war with Iraq (How come George W. Bush does not make a scrambled call to Hans Blix and give him an address or two? Failing that, how about a live human courier?) and how the phrase first comes about in the daily lexicon of contract law.

FindLaw columnist Michael C. Dorf points out in the CNN piece: "The term "material breach" was not invented in Security Council Resolution 1441. It is commonly used in contract law to denote a serious contract violation."

In November 2002, a letter was published in the National District Attorneys Association by Scott Burns, Deputy Director for State and Local Affairs, Office of National Drug Control Policy. There are seven dubious "truths" that more closely resemble classic "reefer madness" than any actual facts or "truth." They are reprinted in this sidebar and BBSNews is providing answers to these horrible mis-representations of the real facts, with a separate article for each one. "The truth is that marijuana is not harmless. As a factor in emergency room visits, marijuana has risen 176% since 1994, and now surpasses heroin. Smoking marijuana leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by the use of cocaine and heroin, and affects alertness, concentration, perception, coordination, and reaction time. One recent study involving a roadside check of reckless drivers (not impaired by alcohol) showed that 45% tested positive for marijuana." "The truth is that marijuana is addictive. Average THC levels rose from less than 1% in the late 1970s to more than 7% in 2001, and sinsemilla potency increased from 6% to 13%, and now reaches as high as 33%. Marijuana users have an addiction rate of about 10%, and of the 5.6 million drug users who are suffering from illegal drug dependence or abuse, 62% are dependent on or are abusing marijuana." "The truth is that marijuana and violence are linked. Research shows a link between frequent marijuana use and increased violent behavior, and youth who use marijuana weekly are nearly four times more likely than non-users to engage in violence." "The truth is that we aren't imprisoning individuals for just "smoking a joint." Overwhelmingly, we treat drug users, and especially marijuana users. Nationwide, the percentage of those in prison for marijuana possession as their most serious offense is less than half of one percent (0.46%), and those generally involved exceptional circumstances." To read the actual truth about how many people are in prison and arrested each year for marijuana please click here. By Derek Snider. "The truth is that marijuana is a gateway drug for many people. Not every person that uses marijuana will go on to use other drugs, but the overwhelming majority of people using other dangerous drugs - about 99% - began by smoking "a little weed." People who used marijuana are 8 times more likely to have used cocaine, 15 times more likely to have used heroin, and 5 times more likely to develop a need for treatment of abuse or dependance on ANY drug." To read the actual truth about the entirely dis-credited "gateway theory" please click here. By Brian Bennett. "The truth is that marijuana legalization would be a nightmare in America. After Dutch coffee shops started selling marijuana in small quantities, use of the drug nearly tripled (from 15% to 44%) among 18-20 year olds between 1984 and 1996. While our nation's cocaine consumption has decreased by 80% over the last 15 years, Europe's has increased...and the Dutch government has started to reconsider its policies." To read the actual truth about Dutch Drug Policy from someone who is there and on the ground please click here. By Eric Johnson. "The truth is that marijuana is not a medicine, and no credible research suggests that it is. There is a protocol to allow some drugs - like cocaine and methamphetamine - to be prescribed in limited cases. Our medical system is the best in the world, and it relies on proven scientific research, not opinions or anecdotes. The primary medical "benefit" of the numerous chemicals in marijuana are increased risk of cancer, lung damage, and poor pregnancy outcomes." To read the actual truth about the entirely dis-credited notion that marijuana is not a medicine please click here. By Michael Hess. Excerpted from: http://www.ndaa-apri.org/pdf/alsobrooks_letter_nov_1_2002.pdf

Dorf goes on to point out: "The term "material breach" was not invented in Security Council Resolution 1441. It is commonly used in contract law to denote a serious contract violation." There is an implied contract between the politicians that govern in the Unites States, those that swore the oath required by statute when serving as an elected or appointed office holder, and those that are governed. A social contract that every US school child is taught about. We teach our children about John Locke, that his social theory was the justification for revolution against the British. Natural rights, inalienable rights, the right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. The bedrock foundation of America. Prentice Hall puts it this way in Politics in America, "The Founders believed that government originated in an implied contract among people. People agreed to establish government, obey laws, and pay taxes in exchange for protection of their natural rights. This social contract gave government its legitimacy—a legitimacy that rested on the consent of the governed, not with gods or kings or force. If a government violated individual liberty, it broke the social contract and thus lost its legitimacy."

There has begun an effort in the United States where politicians and law enforcement are actively, and in some cases not so openly, waging campaigns against political action on the part of the governed to decide laws. Perhaps the most egregious example is the effort on the part of the federal government, along with individual prosecutors and police, to ignore California's Proposition 215. Prop 215 in 1996 legalized medical marijuana in the State of California for patients with a doctors recommendation. By now, unless one just fell off of a turnip truck, most people are probably aware that the federal government considers marijuana forever illegal; possession of any amount is a federal crime, and the US government is so set against admitting that marijuana is indeed a useful medicinal herb that they are content to come into the State of California and handcuff a paraplegic woman to a bed near Santa Cruz to prove the point.

How this increases US security or advances the foundations of our representative democratic republic is very hard to see. What does seem clear upon reading the rhetoric coming from our leaders is that there exists a "material breach" of our most cherished beginnings, the social contract that is part and parcel of what makes America great. Churning out maddening tracts of government propaganda designed to confuse the public between facts and fiction is a breach of the public trust. This BBSNews series under the banner of "A Material Breach of Marijuana Facts" contains a separate article to answer each of the so-called "truths" outlined by Scott Burns of ONDCP to the NDAA in November 2002. This lead article addresses the fallacy that marijuana is not a medicine. Each successive article will highlight the "truth" claim that was made and offer a factual rebuttal.

"The truth is that marijuana is not a medicine, and no credible research suggests that it is. There is a protocol to allow some drugs - like cocaine and methamphetamine - to be prescribed in limited cases. Our medical system is the best in the world, and it relies on proven scientific research, not opinions or anecdotes. The primary medical "benefit" of the numerous chemicals in marijuana are increased risk of cancer, lung damage, and poor pregnancy outcomes."

Anyone who has spent even a short time actually researching the facts can quickly see how the above statement that "marijuana is not a medicine" is just not true. I could fill this space with lots of boring citations to research papers outlining this or that benefit. There really isn't a need to go into too much detail. The federal government grows marijuana in Mississippi, rolls it into joints, packages it in tins that contain 300 of those joints and then sends them out as prescription medication to patients in the US. Reader's might remember that one of those patients, Irvin Rosenfeld, recently got into trouble on an airline because of his perfectly legal, federal government prescribed medication, ready to smoke, marijuana.

That alone is enough to disprove the false charge that there is no such thing as medical marijuana. It's simply not true, the United States federal government grows it, rolls it, and prescribes it and has for decades. Our apologies that traditional "mass media" failed to tell the public of that little detail over the years.

Then of course we come to Marinol. This drug contains the most demonized active ingredient in marijuana, Delta-9-THC, more commonly known as the ingredient which is increasing the potency of "todays" marijuana thereby making it more dangerous to teenagers who are not "smoking their fathers marijuana." Marinol is a FDA approved drug. It is considered extremely safe. It is considered to be so safe that the DEA reduced it's status in the Controlled Substances list from Schedule II to Schedule III. According to a rescheduling fact sheet available from the Marinol Web site "In 1999, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), based in part from a concurring recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reclassified Marinol® (dronabinol) Capsules from a Schedule II controlled substance to Schedule III. This action was taken after thorough review of the abuse potential of Marinol® , which found that the drug has lower abuse and addiction potential than drugs or substances in Schedules I and II. The DEA also found little evidence of actual Marinol® abuse, despite an increased number of prescriptions issued."

Thirdly, there is the Institute of Medicine Report on the medical utility of marijuana which was commissioned by the former US Drug Czar to settle this very question. During Barry McCaffrey's tenure (affectionately known as "McCzar" to drug policy reformers) the study was done under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors concluded in part: "Until a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug 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. One possible approach is to treat patients as n-of-1 clinical trials (single-patient trials), in which patients are fully informed of their status as experimental subjects using a harmful drug delivery system and in which their condition is closely monitored and documented under medical supervision, thereby increasing the knowledge base of the risks and benefits of marijuana use under such conditions." Obviously then, whole marijuana, even smoked, is medicine according to very "credible research."

At this point I could bring up the fact that medical marijuana is legal and recognized in Canada, in fact, their laws about marijuana are in such a muddle right now that possessing a small amount of marijuana for any reason in Canada may already be legal whether for medicine or not. We could delve into the third stage clinical trials underway in Britain by GW Pharmaceuticals, we could look at the research showing that constituents of marijuana may reduce malignant tumor size. Or a thoughtful reader could just go take a look at Medline and see for themselves.

Clearly though, claiming that marijuana does not have medical utility, even when smoked, flys in the face of known facts. The American public deserves to be told the real truth by the officials who are sworn to uphold Constitutional principles and the implied social contract upon which our whole American way of life is founded. Arresting and caging the sick and dying because they use a medicinal plant that is deemed politically incorrect by people who apparently think the American public is too stupid to look up the facts for themselves is simply unconscionable and a material breach.