Weed is not NORML

The New York Times reports that the FDA dismisses claims supporting medical use of marijuana. In other words, despite support from a good portion of the medical and scientific community, a government agency has made a political statement:

Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday's statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment."

Of course, the FDA is a regulatory agency, so enforcement is up to the DEA. The FDA has only to issue fiats, and leave it to someone else to deal with the fallout.

Now, the concerns here are of the "Reefer Madness" sort, the "slippery slope" sort. Give then medical marijuana, some think, and they'll soon have it legalized for recreational use. Let them smoke weed, and before you know it they'll be shooting heroin. We must nip these evil drugs in the bud, before they spread uncontrollably. Then they head out to the bar for a Scotch and a cigar.

But the hypocrisy aside, let's just think of the people who are helped by smoking a J. Does it really benefit society to stop a cancer patient from smoking up, if he thinks it helps him? If he thinks he feels better, then he does feel better; let's not begrudge him that.

Or else let's take the Scotch and cigars away from the bureaucrats who would.