Why does the government perpetuate the myth that marijuana is a killer?

Last week, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law a bill that would allow critically ill patients in his state to receive controlled dosages of medicinal marijuana.

Though 11 other states already have similar laws on the books, Richardson is unique in signing the bill because he is a Democratic presidential contender; signing a controversial bill like this would be damaging in the eyes of most aspiring presidential candidates.

However, the New Mexico law may come into conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970, which does not consider marijuana a drug that can be used for medicinal purposes. The state law would be trumped by the federal law in court, as it was in the 9th Circuit Court last month, which means users of the drug could still be prosecuted.

Under CSA, marijuana is considered a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has three classifications: the drug has a high potential for abuse, has no current medical use for treatment and is unsafe to use even under the direction of medical supervision. No Schedule I drugs can be given to patients, even with a doctors prescription. Exempt from CSA are drugs like tobacco and alcohol.

Why do we exempt drugs that are more harmful to our bodies yet find the less-harmful drug marijuana to be a Schedule I drug? As with all drugs, marijuana impairs your ability to think rationally and may have long-term effects that hinder a persons mind.

However, both tobacco and alcohol individually do more harm to more people each year than marijuana, and deaths from marijuana inhalation are non-existent.

According to the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependency, over 105,000 people die annually from alcohol-related deaths (which include driving accidents, falls, and alcohol poisoning).

While the same potential for death exists with accidental falling or driving under the influence, marijuana does not have the same potential for accidental overdose. While tobacco rarely causes accidental death related to falls or driving under the influence, it is responsible for over three times as many deaths as alcohol annually.

Studies have shown that marijuana smokers can inhale three to five times more tobacco than normal smokers do while smoking the drug. However, if legalized for medicinal purposes, government regulation could limit that amount and instead allow the healing effects of marijuana (related to the amount of THC), to be the only factor involved in smoking the drug.

A report written last year by Dr. Robert S. Gable in the magazine American Scientist, found that the lethality of marijuana compared to alcohol is almost laughable. In fact, marijuana ranks within a group of drugs that would require over 100 times as many dosages as it takes for one to imbibe a lethal amount of alcohol.

Even Dr. Gable had difficulties in finding a single case where smoking marijuana brought upon death.

Then why does the government perpetuate the myth that marijuana is a killer? Many claim it is a gateway drug. Yet, according to a Time/CNN poll conducted in October of 2002, nearly 47 percent of Americans admitted to smoking marijuana once in their lives.

If half of America is using the drug, can we really believe that marijuana is leading half of us to a life of illicit drug use of other unsafe drugs? The same poll found that 80 percent of Americans supported medicinal use of the drug.

Gov. Bill Richardson did the right thing “ he allowed a safe drug to be used in medical settings to help patients dealing with pain. Medicinal use of marijuana should be legalized elsewhere.

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