Ex-Presidents Rail Vs. Marijuana

October 29, 1998 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three former presidents -- George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford -- are urging defeat on Election Day of referendums in several states to legalize marijuana for medical use.

``These initiatives are not based on the best available science,'' the three former presidents wrote in a ``Dear Fellow Citizens'' letter Wednesday that closely parallels the Clinton administration's stance.

In remarks earlier this week, Barry McCaffrey, the White House director of drug control programs, asserted that marijuana initiatives on the ballot in Alaska, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia would prejudge clinical research to determine the safety of marijuana use by AIDS patients.

``Prejudging that research through a political process would be irresponsible,'' McCaffrey said.

In their letter, which was requested by McCaffrey, the three former presidents said the state ballot measures ``undercut our national commitment to ensuring that medicines are proven to be safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration before being approved for use by the public.''

``Ignoring science does not promote good medicine and is not in our national interest,'' they wrote.

Under the state measures, marijuana would be made legal only for persons suffering from one of a short list of specific ailments. Measures in Alaska, Oregon and Nevada would establish state registries of patients entitled to use it. In Alaska and Oregon, patients could get identification cards to avoid arrest.

The laws would require patients to get a doctor's recommendation that marijuana will help one or more of a list of illnesses that includes cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, chronic pain, seizures and muscle spasms. Advocates hope the initiatives' narrow focus on medical applications will appeal to voter compassion and evoke images of solace, of pain eased, of appetite restored and of nausea quieted.

Recent polls in Alaska, Oregon and Washington show most voters support the measures; in Nevada it appears to be a close call.

A ballot measure in Arizona would require heroin, LSD, marijuana and certain other drugs to be authorized by the FDA before they could be prescribed as medicines. Polls indicate that measure is trailing.

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