U.S. threatens doctors who prescribe marijuana
>From wire and local reports (From the Arizona Daily Star 12/24/96)

Prescribing marijuana for medical purposes is against federal law, no
matter what voters in Arizona and California want, federal officials said
yesterday. They said doctors who write such prescriptions may face stern
federal penalties.

A plan describing how the federal government will deal with the medical
prescription of marijuana and other forbidden drugs has been drawn up and
presented to the White House. Officials, who declined to discuss the plan
in detail, said its main thrust is the strict enforcement of federal law.

Sam Vagenas, a spokesman for supporters of the Arizona drug initiative,
said he views the get-tough position in Washington as a victory because it
signals the federal government's retreat from a lawsuit against the state
for passage of Proposition 200.

``I think they're just trying to cover their rear,'' Vagenas said from
Phoenix. `` They know they lost the campaign and they lost their effort to
file suit against us. This is just scare tactics, dirty tricks to try to
scare our doctors.''

Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Catherine Shaw said that
punishing doctors who prescribe marijuana is one option under the law.

``The DEA has the power to take away a doctor's right to prescribe'' legal
narcotics if that authority is abused, said Shaw. She said that power could
be exercised also against doctors who prescribe marijuana, an illegal drug.

To prescribe Schedule II through Schedule V drugs, which are
pharmaceuticals that can be legally prescribed, a doctor has to have a
certificate from the DEA, said Shaw.

About 900 doctors in two years have lost their certification for
over-prescribing such things as tranquilizers or sleeping pills.

Marijuana and heroin are Schedule I substances and federal law recognizes
no legitimate medical use for these drugs, said Shaw. As a result, she
said, doctors who prescribe marijuana could lose their DEA certification
even though such prescriptions may be permitted by some state laws.

Voters in Arizona and California last month approved measures that would
relax restrictions on the medical use of some illegal drugs, such as
marijuana.

Earlier this month, President Clinton told Cabinet members that he wanted a
federal plan drawn up describing how the U.S. government would respond to
the new state laws.

Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Clinton's drug policy adviser, headed a multiagency
effort to draw up the plan. It was later reviewed and agreed on by the FBI,
the DEA, and the departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and
Transportation, all of which have a role in controlling the distribution,
use or sale of il legal drugs.

Donald Maple, a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy,
said the plan has been submitted to Clinton. He refused to discuss details
until the president has reviewed the plan.

``The plan is a balanced way to respond to the propositions'' in Arizona
and California, he said, observing that it basically will emphasize that
federal law has not changed despite the new state laws.

``Marijuana is a Schedule I drug, and science has not found it to be
medically useful,'' said Maple. ``We don't believe we will find a lot of
doctors who will prescribe smoked marijuana. The medical community has
united behind the belief that smoked marijuana has no medicinal use.''

Maple said there is concern about the new state laws because they run
counter to the federal policy that there is nothing good about illegal
drugs.

Suggesting that the drugs have some medical value, he said, could undermine
efforts to discourage their use among the nation's teen-agers.

Vagenas said the government just won't accept that it lost Proposition 200:
``They spent thousands of dollars and ran a campaign, and they lost fair
and square. I don't know why they have to be sore losers. The people have
spoken. Proposition 200 is law.''






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News Links Read about George McMahon, who is one of the few with the
government's permission to use medicinal marijuana, at the Humboldt
Independent online.