Should Medical Marijuana be Federally Legalized?

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Crude marijuana in any form does not constitute a medicine. The medical excuse is a Trojan horse propagated by the pro-marijuana lobby to ultimately legalize marijuana.

In states that have tried to have highly regulated restrictive statues allowing smoked marijuana for terminal or extremely ill patients, and the marijuana lobby liberalizes the rules later. Here are examples of their strategy:

1. Marijuana advocates will seek to expand the number of marijuana plants that “patients” and “caregivers” can possess.  
 
Vermont
 
In Vermont they tried to go from one plant to six mature marijuana plants and 18 immature plants, and from two to four ounces of marijuana that can be possessed..
 
How much pot can 6 plants produce? The typical marijuana plant produces 1 to 5 pounds of smokeable materials (leaves and buds).  Maybe more if grown indoors under the right conditions. The 6 plants permitted by the bill can thus produce a minimum of 6 to 30 pounds of marijuana per year.      
 
How many joints are in 6 to 30 pounds of pot? The typical marijuana cigarette (joint) weighs a gram. There are 28.35 grams in an ounce. Thus 1 ounce of pot will make approximately 28.35 joints. There are 16 ounces in a pound - thus 1pound of marijuana is approximately 454 joints (16 x 28.35).
 
The plants can produce 1 to 5 pounds. Thus, at a minimum, the 6 plants will produce approximately 2,724 joints (6 x 454). If the plants can produce up to 5 pounds each this is 30 pounds of marijuana or 13,620 joints.
 
The Vermont bill would permit the possession of  2,724 to 13,620 joints per person who has “mature” plants. They can also then possess 18 “immature plants.” This is three times as much. What happens when the 18 plants “mature.”
 
Maine
 
The expansion bill will  permit "medical" marijuana patients to possess up to 12 marijuana plants. The old law permits 6 plants.
 
Rhode Island
 
In Rhode Island they expanded the number of plants a caregiver can have to 24 plants.
 
2. Marijuana advocates will seek to limit Law Enforcement

Maine
 
The Maine expansion bill prohibits a law enforcement officer from cooperating with federal authorities in investigating, searching, arresting or prosecuting patients eligible to receive marijuana for medical use or their care givers or registered dispensaries for "medical" marijuana. Any officer who does this can be fired. This is a “get out of jail free” card for abusers of the system.
 
Vermont
 
In Vermont they sought to remove the program from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Health.
 
3. Marijuana Advocates will seek to expand the conditions for which marijuana can be used.
 
Vermont
 
In Vermont the expansion bill added on vague “conditions”such as “a life-threatening, progressive, and debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces severe, persistent, and intractable symptoms such as: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe pain; severe nausea; or seizures.
 
This is very subjective standard and was not backed up by scientific data. By not mentioning specific diseases, they allowed unethical doctors to be very subjective in deciding if someone “needs” marijuana for pain, nausea or seizures.
 
Maine
 
An expansion bill sought to expand the conditions that "medical" marijuana can be used for to include Crohn’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
 
Washington
 
The expansion bill in the State of Washington sought to add the following illnesses that medical marijuana can be used for: Crohn's disease, Hepatitis C; or diseases, including anorexia, which result in nausea, vomiting, wasting, appetite loss, cramping, seizures, muscle spasms, or spasticity.
 
General comment
 
There is no scientific research regarding marijuana and its effectiveness and, its risks, benefits, dosages, interactions with other drugs, and impact on pre-existing conditions for all the above conditions. Studies on marijuana do not exist that show the quantity of dose, frequency of administration, duration of administration, time of administration, in relation to time of meals, time of onset of symptoms, or other time factors, route or method of administration of marijuana for all the medical conditions in these bills. These studies are a requirement before a drug can be used for medicine.
 
4. Marijuana advocates will seek to expand the number of “caregivers” that can give marijuana to “patients” as well as the definition of patients.
 
Rhode Island
 
In Rhode Island they sought to permit persons with felony drug convictions to be “care givers.” The original law did not permit this.
 
Washington
 
The State of Washington expansion bill provides that medical marijuana providers will include anyone who has been designated in writing by a patient to serve as a designated provider. The providers will be able to engage in marijuana production and they can create a “sixty-day supply.
 
Maine
 
The Maine expansion bill allows anyone who can prescribe medication to recommend marijuana. This will increase opportunities for abuse. The Maine bill will also permit “medical” marijuana dispensaries.
 
5. Marijuana advocates will seek to lower the cost of marijuana.

In Vermont they tried to go from $100 for an approval to use marijuana to $50.
 
6. Marijuana advocates will seek to lower the standards for obtaining marijuana for medicinal excuses.

In the State of Washington expansion bill doctors will no longer have to weigh the risks of medical marijuana against the benefits before giving it to a patient.