My THC Flashback

What's the fuss?

Not long ago, the US Supreme Court rendered a decision invalidating California's "Compassionate Use Act," a law that allowed individuals to grow and consume marijuana for medical reasons. I've been surprised by the responses from both sides of the aisle, particularly the sense that, since the decision "erodes" states' rights, conservatives should oppose the decision and use it as another strike against an activist judiciary.

I think this is nonsense. The defendants' point is not absurd: since the drug is grown for personal (i.e., noncommercial) and local use, the federal government has no right to regulate it under the Interstate Commerce Act. However, I do not think it unreasonable for drug-control policy to be set at a national level (due in no small part to the issue of policing borders and the likelihood of interstate transactions); and California's law, which allows individuals a good deal of leeway in growing their own supplies, could put a significant kink in federal control efforts.

Again, I do not think the issue is so much whether marijuana can be medicinally helpful--I take that as a given. But I find it disingenuous, to say the least, for medical-marijuana advocates to lobby for the legalization of the weed, rather than the development of THC (marijuana's active chemical component) as a prescription drug. At least the current legal situation will bring this disconnect to a head: either proponents will resort to civil disobedience, or they will adopt a more constructive approach.

And it's not just my opinion: the American Medical Association (AMA) has its share of doubts as well:

[The AMA calls for a debate on] the wisdom of burning and inhaling the combustion products of a dried plant product as a valid therapeutic agent...the view that smoked marijuana is not a unique therapeutic substance but rather represents an alternate, but more toxic, delivery vehicle for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; Dronabinol®)...A smoke-free inhaled or sublingual delivery system for whole marijuana extract or isolated cannabinoids would be preferred, and some progress has been made in this effort by the pharmaceutical industry...The AMA calls for...the NIH [to] use its resources and influence to support the development of a smoke-free inhaled delivery system for marijuana or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to reduce the health hazards associated with the combustion and inhalation of marijuana.

So there.

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Yet another update: I think this article helps demonstrate both the need for some overarching (pardon the pun) regulation as well as the underlying ridiculousness of the problem--apparently, in San Francisco, there are two medical marijuana "clubs" for each McDonald's.