Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) spouts Drug War Lies

A Stasher from New Mexico wrote to his representative, Heather Wilson (R-NM), to urge her to support Barney Frank’s HR5843 to end federal penalties for personal adult marijuana possession. Here is her reply, with my snarky replies interspersed:

Dear Max,

Thank you for contacting me about medical marijuana. I appreciate hearing from you.

I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana (or any other FDA Schedule I drug) for medicinal purposes. While I respect the views of residents of states that have adopted legislation regarding the medical use of marijuana,…

Which includes the voters of the state you represent in the federal Congress, New Mexico.  So much for respect.

…the bulk of our law enforcement community insists that legalization will hamper their efforts to prevent the spread of drugs in our communities.  Their views count a great deal with me.

Of course.  Because when I’m trying to make tough decisions that affect the medical privacy and well-being of sick and disabled New Mexicans, the first person I consult with is a cop.  Now, if I wanted advice on how to bust a criminal gang of car thieves, that’s when I solicit the advice of a doctor.

A synthetic form of marijuana, commonly referred to as THC or Marinol,…

Uh, Congresswoman Wilson, THC is the psychoactive compound in both marijuana and Marinol.  And nearly every medical marijuana patient asked will tell you they prefer the natural marijuana.

…has been approved as an anti-nausea agent for chemotherapy patients and as an appetite stimulate for patients with AIDS Wasting Syndrome.

Tell me, Congresswoman, how you manage to swallow and keep down a pill when your chemo is making you vomit uncontrollably?  And did you know that the Marinol pill costs $20 each and isn’t covered by most health insurance?  Supposing a patient needs three pills a day, you think an $1,800 monthly pill expense for a disabled person on a fixed income is a better solution than growing a plant indoors for a $200 monthly light bill?

There are important differences. however, between THC and marijuana.

Yes, there are.  THC is the highly-psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana.  Marijuana also contains cannabidiol (CBD), cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichomene (CBC), cannabicyclol (CBL), and tetrahydrocannibivarin (THCV).  Some of these cannabinoids help to mitigate the psychoactivity of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).  Marinol has nothing but THC, so the psychoactive effect is much stronger than an equivalent amount of natural marijuana.

Rep. Wilson, have you ever smoked marijuana or taken Marinol?  I’ve done both.  I’ve smoked the diggitiest of the dank, the most chronic of the ganja, the herbiest of the herb, and nothing has ever messed me up as bad as one Marinol pill.  I’m a 270-lb. man who’s smoked marijuana weekly since 1990 and daily since 2005 with the stoniest stoners in Potland, Oregon, and Marinol kicked my ass.  I’ve never felt the paranoia, depression, and suicidal ideation from natural herb that I felt with Marinol.

And that’s what you’d prefer a cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, pain, seizure, or nausea patient to endure?

Specifically, THC is stable and can be prescribed in quantified dosage amounts. Street marijuana can not be specifically prescribed and this can lead to overuse or ineffective use.

Thanks for pointing out the harms created by prohibition of marijuana.  You won’t let us cultivate and refine it in quantified dosage amounts.  Yet in California, where there is a quasi-legal market in medical marijuana, growers are turning out strains with very well-documented amounts of THC/CBD/etc.  And just like in Amsterdam, where there is a quasi-legal market, we’re finding that given a choice, marijuana users prefer milder strains to the more potent ones.

The overarching charge to any physician is: “First do no harm.” That is a test smoked marijuana cannot pass. There is no scientific evidence that qualifies smoked marijuana to be called medicine. Further, there is no support in the medical literature that marijuana, or indeed any medicine, should be smoked as the preferred form of administration.

Good point.  Inhaling the smoke of any burning vegetable matter is not a healthy decision (however, inhaling burning cannabis smoke is far safer than inhaling burning tobacco smoke).  So, what say you about the vaporization of marijuana, which merely heats cannabinoids to their vaporization point, yet alleviates all of the harms of carbonizing (burning/smoking) the marijuana?  Or what about oral administration, through a tincture or edible?  What about the use of marijuana as a topical antiseptic which shows promise in fighting antibiotic-resistant strains of MRSA and tuberculosis?

See, you have to say smoked marijuana because of the growing body of reliable scientific evidence showing the medical efficacy of cannabis.

I truly believe with safer treatments readily available, the social costs of marijuana legalization far outweigh any potential benefits.

In other words, because some people might smoke pot and get high, cancer and AIDS patients should have to suffer with a less-effective, more expensive, pharmaceutically-approved pill.

And what are these “social costs”?  Increased revenue through taxation of marijuana and savings on law enforcement totalling $10-$14 billion annually?  Undercutting the profits of criminal gangs and terrorists?  Freeing up scarce law enforcement resources to go after violent criminals?  Giving our farmers a lucrative new cash crop in hemp?  Allowing thousands of college kids to get loans and scholarships?  Reducing the number of deaths from crashes, violence, and poisoning from the alcohol people are forced to choose over marijuana?  Saving our environment by eliminating the profit motive to set up clandestine illegal grows in national forests?  Helping to kick our addiction to foreign oil through hemp biodiesel?  Saving our children by requiring an ID check before they buy pot?

The “social costs” Rep. Wilson wants us to infer is that legal marijuana will lead to a skyrocketing problem of drug abuse.  As if there are people out there thinking, “Man, I really want to smoke pot, but it is illegal.  Maybe someday when it is legal, I’ll smoke some!”  Do you think non-pot smokers will really start toking once it is legal?  I don’t.  Everyone who wants to smoke pot already is.

The problem for Heather Wilson and other drug warriors regarding medical marijuana is that unravels the whole drug war house of cards.  If there is legal medical marijuana, how then do you justify arresting a person for not being sick?  “Sorry, pal, if you had cancer, I could let it slide, but you’re far too healthy to smoke pot!”  How do you justify drug testing for a job if healthy people work alongside a legal medical marijuana patient who is a model employee?  “Yes, Anita, your co-worker, smokes pot every day after work for her multiple sclerosis, but if you healthy workers smoked, it would endanger the workplace!”

And since 75% of all of the budgets, activities, personnel, trials, arrests, and seizures have to do with marijuana, eliminating marijuana from the picture dries up most of the Drug War.  That’s why I like to call the DEA the Drug Employment Administration.