Jerry Cox: A Sensible Approach To Medical Marijuana, Not a New Law

Editor’s note: Jerry Cox is executive director of the Family Council Action Committee, a conservative political organization based in Little Rock. He can be contacted at [email protected]. His guest commentary appears in the latest magazine edition of Talk Business Arkansas, which you can access here.

The two Arkansas medical marijuana measures proposed for the ballot this November bypass all the normal safeguards established for other medicines. No prescription from a doctor will be necessary. No pharmacies will dispense it. The FDA will not regulate it, and the public will not know how much Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC – the ingredient that makes people high) is in it.

Anyone claiming to suffer from chronic pain or nausea can smoke it. One proposal even allows people to grow marijuana at home. This does not sound like medicine, because it is not medicine. Ultimately this is about totally legalizing marijuana, as we have seen in Colorado and Washington. Arkansas needs a sensible approach for dealing with marijuana.

Proponents often claim marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. That is not very reassuring. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says tobacco and alcohol cost the U.S. economy nearly $400 billion a year in increased healthcare costs, crime and lost productivity. Remember when tobacco companies marketed cigarettes to kids, ignored lung cancer and made smoking look cool?

Imagine what a heyday producers will have with legalized marijuana. In some states they are already marketing marijuana-infused candy and bottled drinks. In Denver there are more pot shops than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. Not knowing the unintended consequences, the governor of Colorado has warned other states about jumping to follow his state’s example.

But what about tax revenue? Could marijuana be regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol? According to the Urban and Brookings Institution, tobacco and alcohol cost the U.S. $10 for every one dollar they produce in tax revenue. Even if the negative impact of marijuana was no worse than tobacco or alcohol, the social, health, and economic costs would be enormous. Assuming that any taxes on marijuana would fall at about the same level as those on alcohol and tobacco, the tax revenue would not come close to making up for the cost marijuana carries.

Emerging science on the harmful effects of marijuana is chilling. Numerous studies show marijuana smoke has 50 to 70 percent more carcinogens than cigarette smoke. Despite claims you cannot overdose on marijuana, marijuana use causes death from cardiovascular events, stroke and fatal traffic accidents.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, one in six teens who try marijuana will become addicted. Today’s marijuana is six times stronger than the marijuana they smoked at Woodstock. Fetal brain development is permanently damaged when pregnant women smoke it. Teens who routinely use it see an irreversible six- to eight-point reduction in IQ. Studies published in the past two years link marijuana use to schizophrenia, psychosis and depression.

Because marijuana does cause harm, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and virtually every other credible medical organization in the nation oppose marijuana as medicine. When medical marijuana was on the ballot in Arkansas in 2012, the Arkansas Medical Society opposed it along with the Arkansas Pharmacists Association and more than a dozen other Arkansas organizations, including the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and Gov. Mike Beebe.

But what about the people who say they need medical marijuana? There is a sensible approach we can take. Federal and state governments need to pave the way for medical researchers to determine marijuana’s risks and benefits. Most scientists believe that any potential medical uses of marijuana will not be gained by smoking it, but by isolating and extracting certain compounds found in the plant – much as modern medicine derives morphine from the opium plant.

Emerging marijuana-based drugs like Sativex, a mouth spray under consideration in the U.S. and already approved in Canada, may provide relief for people suffering from multiple sclerosis or pain due to cancer. Oils derived from the marijuana plant may help children and adults with seizures. The good news is that these drugs are not smoked and they have low amounts of THC, marijuana’s intoxicating compound. Cancer patients and others who need the THC in marijuana can already get it through a prescription for Marinol from pharmacies across the country.

None of us wants sick people to suffer, but changing the law to make it legal for just about anyone to smoke marijuana is not the answer. If any part of the marijuana plant is going to be used as medicine, it should be thoroughly researched and approved by the FDA, prescribed by a doctor, and obtained through a pharmacy the same as other drugs. This is a sensible approach to marijuana.

Most people would not think of letting someone grow and smoke their own opium just to get the benefits of morphine. Our citizens already have many roads to self-harm. We should not open another.