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DRUG WARS

Marijuana Has No Medical Use, Federal Court Rules

There's a lack of good science, say judges

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: ourweed.com

Pot will continue to be viewed "as dangerous as heroin and worse than methamphetamine" under federal law. That's been reaffirmed by a US appeals court, which ruled on Tuesday that the drug has "no accepted medical uses," according to David G. Savage in the LA Times.

The pro-pot group that brought the case argued that marijuana has been shown to alleviate pain, and the federal government should therefore look again at the evidence. But in their ruling, the judges went along with federal experts, who claim there is have been no "well-controlled" scientific studies of the medical benefits of marijuana.

Marijuana law in the US thus continues to be strangely schizophrenic, writes Savage. One the one hand, 20 states have made weed legal for recreational or medicinal use. On the other, the federal government which continues its 40-year-long war on the drug.

Via the LA Times.
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Comments (view in Forum)

  • o
    Republican5001
    !
    @Len_in_NY2 you don't have to like it, you just have to abide by it. And like everyone craming the "federal gun legislation" down my throat will be law of the land, this too is law of the land. Supersedes any and all "state" laws.

    Never know, maybe the sheriffs that won't enforce any new gun legislation that contradicts the 2nd amendment, won't enforce this law too. Doubt it, but maybe.

    Onus of proof always lies within the person making the claim.
  • Zazziness
    !
    @Republican5001 There are hundreds of thousands of anecdotal reports of how marijuana has been useful to patients in their treatment from both patients and their caregivers. You can read quite a few of them here in this thread. To claim there is no medical use for marijuana takes a very heavy set of blinders.
  • View all 53 replies >
  • u
    culinary
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    When my grandmother had cancer, her DOCTOR tried to get her to use it saying it was much better for pain and nausea, with fewer side effects, than any pill he could think of.
  • u
    Hireman
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    @Real4WheelDrv Do you have links to this evidence? I'm not necessarily disputing this, but the second you said "empirical", you must be quoting a real study or studies. In this case, without seeing all of the evidence personally, and this judge having done just that, and ruling that the evidence doesn't back the case, I'm inclined to agree with the judge.
  • View all 7 replies >
  • u
    Penn1699
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    I thought that odd, "worse than heroin and meth." Heroin and meth alter your brain permanently. From what I've read over the years pot does not. Big difference. I've known many addicts never have I come across a marijuana addict. Interesting.
  • malpaso
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    Sounds like something written by the fine folks who design ad campaigns for the pharma companies doesn't it?
  • Zazziness
    !
    Generally alcohol is rated slightly above nicotine and slightly below opium on the potential addiction scale. Marijuana is rated as roughly the same as caffeine.
  • View all 8 replies >
  • Jlope
    !
    It doesn't matter; nobody has the right to tell me i can't smoke weed when caffeine is proven to be more dangerous. The judges make 6 figures a year for being lazy sitting behind a bench and extorting money from peaceful, hardworking citizens. They don't want the money to go to the state in taxes because then it would be accounted for and not going to their pockets. /end argument.
  • PNWest
    !
    Alcohol companies don't want legal pot - it is competition. Local police don't want legal pot - it is far easier to arrest passive pot smokers than violent criminals. Judges don't want legal pot - job security. Jails and prisons don't want legal pot - job security and easy to handle passive prisoners. Drug companies don't want legal pot - competition from non-patentable medicines. Drug cartels don't want legal weed - bug profits $$$. Regular people do want legal marijuana. End result - Of course marijuana is illegal. Any questions? Remember Money talks and bullsh!t walks - "Ozzie" Myers
  • stepped_in_it
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    @PNWest "bullsh!t walks" want to contest this statement. Don't know 'bout you city folk's BS, but here in the country, our BS stays were the bull plops it! ;-)
  • PNWest
    !
    @stepped_in_it Ozzie Myers was a PA Congressman back in the 1970's. He got caught on video accepting a $50,000 bribe when he made that famous quote while stuffing the cash in his pockets. It made for very good TV. He got 3 years for the performance but no Emmy.
  • View all 9 replies >
  • Uatu
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    Put it to national vote and let us decided if its as dangerous as heroin or meth, cause everyone knows the truth an personally speaking I'd rather smoke or eat pot for my medical problems instead of the half dozen opiates the doctor prescribes ( which I refuse to take an constantly in pain).
  • Jlope
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    Too true. Try walking into a courtroom with a sound, supreme court verified defense and no lawyer, and watch how quickly you are silenced under threat of harsh sentencing.
  • justapirate
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    Once again there are none so blind as those who will not see. The judge's decision was not based on medical evidence. It was based on what law enforcement wants to protect its authority, budget and easy access to funds by way of the RICO Act. The government makes quite well on this fiasco and is in no mood to give up its authoritive and financial access.
  • u
    fistv
    !
    No you are wrong, it's not run by idiots, it's run by corrupt people who are very smart and use the system to their advantage and enrichment of their and their families bank accounts. Those who are not corrupt generally are corrupted within a term or two. While not every congress clown enters office a millionaire every single one leaves office a millionaire, a pretty good trick on $160,000 a year salary.
  • u
    Grubby
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    It can have one use - Obama should freely distribute it to his Liberal political buddies. Keep them all "far out man" where they can't do so much damage to our country.
  • Mbjhug
    !
    Once again, this is NOT an issue for the feds to decide. It's an issue for the PEOPLE.

    I said it once, and I'm gonna say it again: America wants sensible drug reform. Stop side stepping the issue (like this crap) and actually LISTEN to the people you are suppose to be serving.

    First they ignore you, then they laugh at you. Then they fight you, then you win.
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    "federal experts".....HMMM....wond er if the term oxymoron can be equated here?
    This is just another ruling by the federal courts that is ignoring the will of it's people! It's a blatant disregard to "of the people, by the people and FOR the people". To compare marijuana to heroin and then say it's worth than meth is asinine! You know, sometimes judges have to visit a crime scene to better "judge" the crime! Wonder if these (so-called) judges would like to compare these drugs to better judge their "crimes"! What a hoot...one day they smoke MJ.....next day they shoot heroin.....third day they smoke meth. On the fourth day, if they are still alive, they can then judge the culpability of those 3 "criminals".
  • Ashstop
    !
    Well if the federal courts said it then that's the new facts right?
    I personally don't agree but on other topics here I've found Federal courts are to many the supreme decision, so if they say it doesn't then it don't, wether it does or not.
  • u
    fistv
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    The feds have a great deal of money and careers invested in keeping grass illegal. Imagine the prisons having to release thousands of those busted for pot possession once it was legalized.
  • Len_in_NY2
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    Imagine losing all of that lobbyist $$$ from the sectors who profit as a result of prohibition? Pharma, alcohol, textiles, big oil, your aforementioned private prison builders, DEA and other LEOs, food corps such as Monsanto.
  • u
    LazerFlash
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    @Len_in_NY2 It should probably surprise no one that one of the biggest lobbying efforts in the country is by the unions that represent law enforcement and corrections officers...
  • Buzzfriendly
    !
    Good for the court. We need to keep these folks on Percocet and Oxycotin which has so many valuable medical uses. Maybe it is just me but why is an opiate such as heroin bad and when the doctor prescribes it in the form of a pill its now a necessary medical medication?
  • o
    SomethinsFishy
    !
    It does have medical uses and modern generations would not have access to it where it not for our ancient ancestors who started using it for medicinal and religious reasons thousands of years ago. Anyway, these are establishment idiots who just can't get it through their heads that we would considerably reduce violence in our country, and abroad if we decriminalized all drugs. Legalize them and see the Drug Cartels fade away. The same goes for other idiotic things that are now illegal, like prostitution, for example. In Germany, it has been legal for many, many years. Prostitutes are government-inspected and pay taxes. Many work in "Eros Centers"/"Arabella Houses" where they and their clients are safe and protected. Germany is a world economic POWERHOUSE, and their crime rates are much, much lower than ours. I don't know much about German drug laws, but I remember seeing young men openly selling Hashish in downtown Kaiserslautern and other cities like Mainz, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Wurzburg, etc., in view of Polizei and no one getting arrested. So their drug laws must be much more relaxed. It is true that Germany has been fairly homogenous demographics-wise for a long time, but that has been changing with the migration of foreign workers from Northern and Equatorial Africa and the Middle East.
  • u
    LazerFlash
    !
    I say if it's "victimless", like prostitution and drug use, then legalize and tax it. Instead of spending BILLIONS of dollars, we could probably eliminate the National Debt by taxing it...
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    Even if pot doesn't have legit medical uses, who cares? Tobacco and alcohol (outside of a fuel, topocal skin use, and possibly a coolant) don't have them either...yet I can go buy those right now. The govt has no argument here.

    Legalize pot...tax pot...more revenue for the states.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    It's easy to say there's not enough evidence when you BAN anyone from doing the research to provide that evidence.

    What's ironic is that there are about a dozen people alive today who receive 200 joints a month from the govt for medical purposes. Not only that, but they have federal permission to literally smoke wherever they want, including in their car.
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