High on a Lie
October 6th, 2008 | Published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Culture
By Dan Levine
One Saturday last September, 50,000 people, most of them teenagers, crowded into the Boston Common for the eighth annual Freedom Rally. Its organizers billed it as the largest marijuana legalization event on the East Coast. Strolling through the crowd, holding a joint was a 17-year-old highschool senior who said his name was Bill. “If they allow sick people to use it,” he said, “it can’t be that damaging.”
Sharing a marijuana pipe with two friends, a 15- year-old named Nicole agreed. “Pot is harmless,” she said. “It should be legalized because there are so many medical benefits. It helps you with a lot of things. It’s the best.”
An increasing number of young Americans agree. They have gotten this idea from a well-funded movement to legalize the “compassionate” use of marijuana. While every legitimate drug requires rigorous testing by the FDA before being approved, marijuana advocates are opting for medicine by popular vote. This year signatures are being gathered for medical marijuana initiatives in a half dozen states and the District of Columbia.
Marijuana’s main active ingredient, THC is effective in relieving nausea and inducing weight gain in cancer and AIDS patients. That is why the FDA has approved Marinol, a synthetic pill form of THC. But marijuana in its smoked form has never been shown to be safe or effective. In fact, marijuana smoke contains over 2000 chemicals, many of which produce psychoactive reactions, cause lung damage and – in cancer and AIDS patients – increase the risk of pneumonia and weaken the immune system. Inhaling smoke also disrupts short term memory and leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by heroin, cocaine and other highly addictive drugs.
“There is no conclusive scientific evidence that marijuana is superior to currently available medicines,”says Dr. Eric Voth, chairman of the International Drug Strategy Institute in Omaha. “Medical marijuana is a scam that takes advantage of sick and dying patients.”
Says Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.), director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, “Medical marijuana is a stalking-horse for legalization. This not about compassion. This is about legalizing dangerous drugs.”
“Daddy Warbucks” of Drugs. The legalization of marijuana and other drugs has been debated for more than thirty years, with a vast majority of Americans standing in opposition. Legalization supporters have used the argument that drugs are necessary for medical reasons. But now, for the first time, they have significant financial backing.
In the last six years a handful of America’s wealthiest people have contributed $20 million to groups that promote medical marijuana or other radical drug-policy reforms. Billionaire financier George Soros is the biggest giver, donating more than $16 million. Others include Peter Lewis, CEO of Cleveland based Progressive Corp., the nation’s sixth largest auto insurer, and John Sperling, president of the Apollo Group, a holding company that controls for-profit universities and job training centers.
In an interview with Reader’s Digest, the 76-year-old Sperling said he believes doctors should be allowed to prescribe all drugs, including heroin and LSD. Lewis declined to be interviewed.
A spokesman for Soros said he does not support drug legalization. Nonetheless, Soros has donated millions since 1992 to groups led by people advocating it. Former Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr., calls him the “Daddy Warbucks of drug legalization.”
Soros created a drug-policy institute called The Lindesmith Center and has funded it with $4 million. Its director, Ethan Nadelmann, Soros’s point man on drug policy, has said he wants ro “legalize the personal possession of drugs of adult Americans.”
Soros has given $6.4 million to the Drug Policy Foundation (DPF), a leading advocate for medical marijuana. Its stated mission is “publicizing alternatives to current drug strategies.” Its founder, attorney and college professor Arnold Trebach, calls himself a “flat-out legalizer” who advocates the repeal of current drug laws.
Richard J. Dennis, a 49-year-old Chicago commodities trader and member of DPF’s board of directors, supports both medical marijuana and legalization in general. In fact says Dennis, “I’d like to see legalization for adults for all drugs, including heroin.”
Richard J. Dennis, a 49-year-old Chicago commodities trader and member of DPF’s board of directors, supports both medical marijuana and legalization in general. In fact says Dennis, “I’d like to see legalization for adults for all drugs, including heroin.”
On DPF’s advisory board is Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Lester Grinspoon, a leading advocate of medical marijuana for over 25 years. He compares marijuana’s potential benefits to that of that of penicillin, predicting, “It will be the wonder of the new millennium.”
Soros, Lewis and Sperling gained their biggest victory in November 1996 when California voters passed Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act. It allows pot to be grown and smoked for “any illness for which marijuana provides relief.” There are no age restrictions. “Illness” is loosely defined and can include headaches, chronic pain and arthritis. A doctor’s oral recommendation is all that is required.
The principle author of the California initiative was 52-year-old Dennis Peron, a San Francisco “medical pot club: owner who’s been arrested 15 times on marijuana charges. Peron says he worded the initiative vaguely because he believes “all marijuana use is medical.”
The principle author of the California initiative was 52-year-old Dennis Peron, a San Francisco “medical pot club: owner who’s been arrested 15 times on marijuana charges. Peron says he worded the initiative vaguely because he believes “all marijuana use is medical.”
Peron’s Cannabis Cultivators Club is the state’s largest pot club, taking in over $20,000 a day. One day last fall, Peron wandered the club greeting patrons and handed one a bulging quarter-pound bag of marijuana.
Standing in line at Peron’s smoke filled club to buy an eighth of an ounce of high-grade Mexican marijuana was a 39-year-old named Anthony. Under California’s law, Anthony is considered a “seriously ill patient” who can purchase and smoke pot. He tokes up four to five times a day. When asked about his ailment, Anthony answered: “officially, hernia discomfort from over strenuous intercourse. Actually I can’t feel it.” He said the club admitted him without any medical referral. A self-described “potaholic,” Anthony has smoked pot since he was 16. “My problems,” he conceded, “are related to a general life-style kind of thing.”
Peron’s club had operated for years, despite violating state and federal drug laws. In August 1996, state drug agents raided it, seizing 86 pounds of pot and $62,000. “The club was running a sophisticated illegal drug distribution network,” said a spokesman for California Attorney General Dan Lungren. A grand jury indicted Peron, and he waits trial on felony drug charges. Meanwhile Peron is running for governor of California.
Standing in line at Peron’s smoke filled club to buy an eighth of an ounce of high-grade Mexican marijuana was a 39-year-old named Anthony. Under California’s law, Anthony is considered a “seriously ill patient” who can purchase and smoke pot. He tokes up four to five times a day. When asked about his ailment, Anthony answered: “officially, hernia discomfort from over strenuous intercourse. Actually I can’t feel it.” He said the club admitted him without any medical referral. A self-described “potaholic,” Anthony has smoked pot since he was 16. “My problems,” he conceded, “are related to a general life-style kind of thing.”
Peron’s club had operated for years, despite violating state and federal drug laws. In August 1996, state drug agents raided it, seizing 86 pounds of pot and $62,000. “The club was running a sophisticated illegal drug distribution network,” said a spokesman for California Attorney General Dan Lungren. A grand jury indicted Peron, and he waits trial on felony drug charges. Meanwhile Peron is running for governor of California.
Peron’s initiative never would have made it to the ballot without the help of Soros, Lewis and Sperling. California requires 433,269 valid petition signatures before a “citizens initiative” can be placed on the ballot. As the deadline neared, Peron and his unorganized group had collected only 40,000.
That is when Ethan Nadelmann of Soros’s Lindesmith Center stepped in. He helped create Californians for Medical rights, a sophisticated campaign organization that pushed the medical- marijuana initiative. Soros and Lewis poured $400,000 into the group, which paid professional signature gatherers who, in 90 days, obtained more than 700,000 signatures.
That is when Ethan Nadelmann of Soros’s Lindesmith Center stepped in. He helped create Californians for Medical rights, a sophisticated campaign organization that pushed the medical- marijuana initiative. Soros and Lewis poured $400,000 into the group, which paid professional signature gatherers who, in 90 days, obtained more than 700,000 signatures.
Once the measure was on the ballot, Soros, Lewis and Sperling contributed a combined $450,000 for advertising. Commercials featured emotional appeals for relief through the use of marijuana. The ads never mentioned that Proposition 215 would allow marijuana to be smoked for any condition, without age restriction and without a prescription.
One of the numerous medical marijuana clubs that opened as a result of Peron’s measure was the Dharma Producers Group in San Francisco, which bragged that it offered “medical marijuana with a Tibetan touch.” The club’s “medical director,” a pony-tailed 52-year-old named Lorenzo Pace, laughed when he explained his medical-marijuana credentials: “I did preliminary research all through the 60s.”
Californians for Medical Rights has since changed its name to Americans for Medical Rights. Today it is leading a campaign to place medical-marijuana initiatives on state ballots across the country.
:LSD. While Californians were voting on medical marijuana, their neighbors in Arizona were considering an even more radical initiative. The Drug Medicalization, Prevention and Control Act of 1996 proposed to legalize not only marijuana but also more than 100 other drugs –- including heroin, LSD and PCP (angel dust) –- for medical use.
Arizona’s initiative was sold to voters as a way to get tough on violent crimes. How? Open up jail space by paroling all first- and second-time drug offenders. This ignored the fact that virtually all of the 1200 inmates affected had plea bargained down from much more serious charges or had prior felony records.
In Arizona, Sperling spearheaded the campaign. He, Soros and Lewis contributed a total of $1.2 million; The DPF gave $303,000. This accounted for 99 percent of the initiatives total funding. As in California, much of this money paid for a massive media campaign. Opponents of the initiative, caught unprepared, did not run a single advertisement.
In Arizona, Sperling spearheaded the campaign. He, Soros and Lewis contributed a total of $1.2 million; The DPF gave $303,000. This accounted for 99 percent of the initiatives total funding. As in California, much of this money paid for a massive media campaign. Opponents of the initiative, caught unprepared, did not run a single advertisement.
The measure passed, but a post election survey revealed that Arizona voters had been badly mislead. Seventy four percent did not believe doctors should be able to prescribe drugs such as heroin, PCP and LSD, as the proposition allowed; 70 percent agreed the initiative would give children the impression the drugs were also acceptable for recreational use. The state legislature subsequently passed a statute that effectively overwrote the initiative.
Fighting Back. The organizers of Arizona’s initiative moved to place a similar measure on the ballot n Washington State. Sperling, Lewis and Soros contributed a total of more than $1.5 million.
Despite being outspent more than ten to one, opponents of the Washington initiative were not about to be caught unprepared. They took every opportunity to stress that the measure was not about compassion, but about legalizing dangerous drugs. Last November voters rejected the measure.
The defeat in Washington has not sidetracked plans for similar medical marijuana initiatives in other states. Battlegrounds include Hawaii, Florida, Arkansas, Maine and Alaska. An Oregon initiative would not only legalize use of many drugs but also permit the sale of marijuana in state liquor stores. In Washington D.C., Initiative 59 would allow up to four caregivers, including “best friends,” to cultivate pot for a “seriously ill” person. Organizers are hoping that passage of these initiatives will spur Congress to legalize medical marijuana under federal law.
Says Dr. Robert DuPont, a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse: “Never in the history of modern medicine has burning leaves been considered medicine. Those in the medical marijuana movement are putting on white coats and expressing concerns about the sick. But people need to see this for what it is: a fraud and a hoax.”
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