The Drug Enforcement Administration has come out against a California ballot initiative (Proposition 215) to prevent the state prosecution of patients who use marijuana for a documented medical need.
In a press release issued by Thomas Constantine, chief administrator, the agency states that it is “firmly opposed” to the proposal. The agency cites rising adolescent drug use and an alleged lack of evidence regarding marijuana’s therapeutic value as reasons for holding its position.
“How can we tell American children to refuse to use illegal drugs when medical practitioners are prescribing marijuana as casually as they prescribe penicillin or cough syrup?” he asked. “The children of America deserve to live a drug-free life, safe from the effects of drugs, and safe from the crime and degradation that drug-taking breeds. Proposition 215 sends the unequivocal message that we have surrendered to the legalizers and have relinquished our principles.”
“This initiative is not about sending messages to kids, it’s about reality,” said Dave Fratello of Californians for Medical Rights. “The reality is that marijuana is helpful as a medicine.”
“Marijuana has a 5,000 year medical history and was declared to be ‘one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man’ in 1988 by the DEA’s own Chief Administrative Law Judge,” said NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre. “Marijuana’s medical utility has been endorsed by such well respected organizations as the American Public Health Association, National Academy of Sciences, and Federation of American Scientists. For the DEA to claim otherwise is fallacious.”
Proposition 215 is currently endorsed by the San Francisco Academy of Family Physicians, San Francisco Medical Society, California Nurses Association, and others. It continues to have strong voter support and leads by 33 percent, according to an October 15 Field Poll.
For more information, please contact Dave Fratello of Californians for Medical Rights at (310) 451-2522 or Allen St. Pierre of NORML at (202) 483-5500.