| Reason |
| Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske: “Calling it medicine sends a terrible message” |
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske — required by law to lie about the medical efficacy of cannabis — has, unsurprisingly, attacked the herb again in a speech in San Francisco.
“Calling it medicine sends a terrible message” to American youth, according to the Czar, reports Chris Roberts at NBC Bay Area. Gil seems unfamiliar with or indifferent to the fact that the U.S. federal government itself has been providing free medical marijuana to a handful of patients for 30 years under the Compassionate Investigational New Drug program.
Gil could also use a refresher course on the thousands of scientific studies which show marijuana’s medical effectiveness. Oh well; I guess Science “sends a terrible message” to youth, as well.
“Medicinal marijuana has never been through the FDA process,” Kerlikowske said, reports Christopher Thomas at SFBay.ca. “We have the world’s most renowned process to decide what is medicine and what should go in peoples’ bodies and marijuana has never been through that process.”
What Gil didn’t mention is that 100,000 Americans die each year from prescription drugs which HAVE been “through that process.” That’s in contrast to medical marijuana deaths, which so far in history have reached a grand total of zero.
What Gil also didn’t see fit to mention is “that process” has been severely corrupted by Big Pharma money. Oh, and somehow Gil just couldn’t find the time to mention that increasingly, giant pharmaceutical corporations reach into their deep pockets to buy the kinds of results they want from “that process.”
Kerlikowske, President Barack Obama’s head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the non-Cabinet level position which advises federal officials on drug enforcement, was in town to speak at a gathering of law enforcement officers at the University of San Francisco.
Gil had stern words for marijuana legalization, calling it a “false choice.”
The Drug Czar did claim that there is no “War On Drugs.” He said there is, rather, a growing effort to ensure that drug users receive education and treatment instead of solely receiving prison sentences.
I’m sure Chris Williams and Aaron Sandusky would be very interested in hearing all about that.