From: Aron Kay <[p--em--n] at [mojo.calyx.net]>
Newsgroups: alt.gathering.rainbow,alt.drugs,rec.drugs.cannabis,alt.hemp,alt.drugs.pot,alt.drugs.hard,alt.hemp.politics
Subject: DEA makes announcement (fwd)
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 14:42:22 -0400

Drug Enforcement Administration makes announcement

   Source: Business Wire

   WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE) via Individual Inc. -- Dear Editor/Station
   Manager:

   The State of Arizona is considering a proposal, which is on the ballot
   this election day, to allow any medical practitioner to recommend the
   use of marijuana, heroin and LSD to patients with medical conditions.

   This referendum comes at a time when teenage drug use has doubled in
   the last four years, and attitude surveys indicate that many parents
   and their children have accepted drug use as a natural part of the
   teenage experience.

   A study commissioned by the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse
   (CASA), and released during September, demonstrates a clear link
   between parents' attitudes about drugs, and the likelihood that their
   teenagers will enter the drug culture.

   The President of CASA, former HEW Secretary Joe Califano, stated that,
   "Every child in America is at risk of using drugs. The issue isn't
   whether our children are going to be tossed into this sea of drugs;
   the issue is how well we can teach them how to swim.

   "What is infuriating about the attitudes revealed in this survey is
   the resignation of so many parents and teens to the present mess...The
   more parents take responsibility, the less at risk of using drugs
   their children are."

   If parents approve Proposition 200 on Election Day, they are sending a
   clear message to our children that marijuana use is positive, and that
   marijuana has a legitimate place in the medical profession.

   The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is firmly opposed to this
   proposal because there is no evidence that marijuana is an effective
   medical treatment.

   This is not our opinion alone; the nation's top medical experts have
   stated unequivocally that there is no indication that marijuana is
   effective in treating nausea and vomiting resulting from radiation
   treatments for cancer, nor is there any evidence that marijuana has a
   positive effect on patients with glaucoma.

   No legitimate medical study has ever recommended the use of marijuana,
   and on this basis, DEA has maintained our position that there is no
   medical use which justifies rescheduling marijuana to a lower level of
   control. Likewise, there are no medical reasons other drugs, such as
   heroin and LSD, should be used by physicians.

   Apart from these facts, we should ask why would well-organized and
   well-financed proponents of drug legalization push this issue at a
   time when public health attention is being focused on teenage drug use
   and smoking?

   At a time when our nation is looking for solutions to the problem of
   teenage drug use, how can we justify giving a stamp of approval to
   illegal substances which have no legitimate medical use?

   How can we tell American children to refuse to use illegal drugs when
   medical practitioners are prescribing marijuana, heroin and other
   drugs as casually as they prescribe penicillin or cough syrup?

   Supporters of this referendum, in order to build support for
   legalization, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Arizona
   in support of Proposition 200.

   They believe that the label of "medicinal marijuana" or the use of
   drugs for "compassionate pain relief" masks their true agenda. But
   parents and Arizona citizens need to know that the legalizers will not
   stop at medical use nor do they care about the impact that freely
   available drugs will have on Arizona children.

   The notion that these legalization proponents are interested in
   alleviating suffering is preposterous. They are seeking to normalize a
   behavior which is harmful and illegal, using the ill as cover for
   their larger plan.

   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 200 sends the unequivocal message that
   we have surrendered to the legalizers and have relinquished our
   principles. No wonder our children are confused.

   Sincerely,

   Thomas A. Constantine (signed)

   Administrator

   CONTACT: Drug Enforcement Administration | James J. McGivney, chief,
   office of Public Affairs | 202/307-7977

   [10-17-96 at 10:07 EDT, Business Wire]