Saturday, December 4, 2004

Drug Warrior Seeks Co-Sponsors One of our favorite love-to-hate drug warriors is looking to propose a new bill. Here's his letter: Dear Colleague, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to educate the public against a dangerous drug whose dangers have been kept from the public by those promoting its use. Vioxx? No. Marijuana. By law, all drugs bought, sold and prescribed in the U.S. must first undergo rigorous clinical trials and be proven to be safe and effective by the FDA before they can be made available to patients. This process ensures patient safety, protects the public health and ensures accountability and liability should a patient be injured or harmed. With no scientific evaluations or conclusive evidence of safety or effectiveness, however, a number of states and localities have sought to legalize smoking marijuana for so-called "medical" use. Smoked marijuana has never been approved for medical use by the FDA. For several years, in fact, FDA allowed a limited number of seriously ill patients to use smoked marijuana. The program was terminated in 1992 when the Public Health Service (PHS) stated there was no scientific evidence that the drug was assisting patients, and issued a warning that using smoked marijuana as a form of medical therapy may actually be harmful to some patients. The fact is smoking marijuana has no scientifically proven medical benefits. Smoking marijuana puts users at risk for countless serious health problems and may worsen the conditions for which patients wrongly believe it is treating. And real medical alternatives exist for patients suffering from the conditions proponents of smoking marijuana claim it can treat. And again, patients who are smoking marijuana are being denied legitimate care that could improve rather than worsen their medical conditions. The public's health would be best served if science and the FDA continued to be the basis and judge of the safety and effectiveness of patients' drugs. Despite repeated requests by the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources, FDA has been reluctant to educate the public about the false claims and real dangers of smoking marijuana. I will introduce the "Safe and Effective Drug Act" next week. This bill directs the National Institutes for Health to examine the available scientific data regarding the safety and effectiveness of smoking marijuana and requires the FDA to post this information and distribute it to those public health entities that advocate or recommend patients smoke marijuana. If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation, please contact Roland Foster of my staff... Sincerely, Mark E. Souder Chairman, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources A couple of thoughts come to mind after reading this letter. Does Mark Souder realize the irony of mentioning Vioxx when talking about looking to the FDA for safety and effectiveness of drugs? After all, while marijuana has never killed anyone, the death toll for Vioxx, which was fast-track approved by the FDA, has reached tens of thousands. After you get past the anti-medical marijuana rhetoric and the implied assumption that medical marijuana can only be smoked (there's also vaporizing, and topical or oral treatments), you realize that the stated intent of the bill also matches the interests of drug policy reformers. Part of the problem with medical marijuana all along is that the federal government has both supressed research, and also ignored existing research and data (all the while complaining that there is not sufficient scientific support). A bill that would require the government to research the available data would seem favorable to anyone seeking the truth (assuming that such a process would be allowed to include the truth). This will be an interesting one to watch. I've written to Souder's aide mentioning the problem with limiting it to smoked marijuana and he indicated that they were open to changing it to include other applications in a future re-write. 8:14:12 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Drug War News Roundup Mystery spraying in Afghanistan. Tomorrow's New York Times article still has no answers as to who has been spraying opium poppy fields with toxic chemicals and destroying crops. Spraying has not been authorized by the Afghan government, and alternate crop programs are not yet in place. The American government has denied any knowledge, but Afghanis aren't buying it, given that the U.S. has long argued for chemical eradication. Governor Hajji Din Muhammad noted "The Americans control the airspace of Afghanistan, and not even a bird can fly without them knowing." TalkLeft tells us that Senator McCain is threatening new legislation to impose mandatory drug testing of professional baseball players. TalkLeft also notes that a Cali Cartel dealer has been extradited to the U.S., which segues into... Last week, Mark Kleiman, in Weirder than Satire in Columbia, noted that cocaine traffickers are being accused of pretending to be genocidal terrorists in order to get preferential treatment. Scotus Blog says that Hoasca Tea may be heading to the Supreme Court (Justice Breyer granted an application for a temporary stay). This case will put the government in the position of explaining why they are denying an exception to the Controlled Substances Act for the use of Hoscoa Tea in O Centro Espirita Beneficients Uniao Do Vegetal religious ceremonies, while allowing a religious exemption for Native American use of peyote. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a 4-part series: Tougher sentencing law carries hefty price: Estimated $1.8 billion through 2025 Drug War Corruption. In Mexico, seventeen federal, state and local investigators, prosecutors and police officers have been arrested. Those arrested face charges of protecting drug dealers as well as homicide or accessory to murder in the slayings of nine people. [cross posted at The Agitator 7:07:30 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []