US CA: Column: Voices Of Faith

[The GCW]

Pubdate: Sat, 23 May 2009

Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n554/a03.html?1091

VOICES OF FAITH

The Record Searchlight poses a weekly question to the religious leaders of our community, and prints the responses as space allows. All are posted on Redding.com. We invite all faith leaders in the north state to participate, and our readers to send in questions that apply to all faiths.

Q: Marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation is legal in California, but remains illegal under federal law. Should marijuana use for medicinal reasons be prosecuted?

The passage of Proposition 215 legalizing marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation has led to more abuses than I can count.

THC is the active ingredient and it can be synthesized for medical use, but voters legalized the whole thing with no safeguards, and so it is difficult to know who is obeying the law and who profiting from drug trade.

It is also true that federal law does not recognize Proposition 215 and so growers can be prosecuted by the feds even when state authorities back off. I am not willing to come out in favor of prosecution for people in compliance with state law, but I will say that Christians are required by our Lord to obey all laws that do not require defiance of God's standards of behavior. Medicinal marijuana use does not qualify to excuse lawbreaking.

I must also say God called us to compassion for people in pain. I am not qualified to evaluate the medical claims for marijuana, and I would not want to prevent people from legitimate intervention. But common sense dictates synthesizing or extracting THC into pills, and getting on with its legitimate uses, if such there truly be.

It is the voters of California - in conflict with the U.S. Congress - who have created this mess. Medical users of cannabis are caught in the crush: That is not fair, but the voters need to clean up their own mess rather than ask law enforcement to ignore some laws while enforcing others.

James Wilson

PrayNorthState, Redding

This question is probably more a case of fear of inadequate regulation than of moral ethics. It also calls for some questions of science to be answered.

Is the prescription for palliative purposes and will it actually work without causing undue harm?

Who supplies the marijuana and under what restrictions and conditions?

Who is responsible for quality control and safe packaging?

Is there the same kind of help that we have with prescription drugs from a qualified pharmacist, or do we simply rely on various kinds of folklore for administering marijuana for medicinal purposes?

The issue has become politically charged and also heavily debated and lobbied by pharmaceutical companies as well as the alcoholic beverage industry. Probably the federal prohibition is the best we can do for now as a practical response to all these unanswered questions.

Yet we should be able to do the science sometime soon. Perhaps there are many answers regarding pain management and end-of-life comfort to be learned from impartial investigations and rigorous testing.

The hardest part is just not knowing, and watching people suffer who might be significantly helped.

Deacon Mike Evans

Sacred Heart Church, Anderson

Prosecuting a citizen for using a drug a physician prescribes for symptoms of an illness or treatment of an illness would seem to be an oxymoron. Morphine is illegal for use on the streets, but we certainly don't prosecute patients who use it to relieve intolerable pain.

I understand the fear that legalizing marijuana could endanger our youth, but the laws to keep it out of the hands of children obviously don't work. What is happening is we are becoming the largest jailer country in the world.

One possibility to protect our youth would be to approve marijuana as a substance for adult use only, as we do now with alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol is often cited as a legal drug that causes far more individual and social harm than marijuana. Marijuana appears for many to be a better anti-anxiety drug than the prescription drugs available - for big bucks - which can be highly addictive.

Smoking it is clearly harmful to the lungs, but a pill form is available medicinally. Perhaps the pill form is not available more widely because the drug companies cannot patent it.

The federal law is one that is being largely disregarded, as evidenced by the fact that in California ( marijuana ) is legal to use with a doctor's prescription.

I think if it comes to a public vote, the law will change. If not, perhaps building bigger prisons can become part of our economic recovery plan. Unfortunately, it costs the taxpayers a fortune to hold people there.

Rev. Judith Churchman

Center for Spiritual Living, Redding

No, marijuana use for medical reasons should not be prosecuted.

Cannabis has been used for over 5,000 years, for fibers, medicinal and recreational drugs in the ( same ) category with tobacco, alcohol and chocolate, and biofuels.

Cannabis is noted in the earliest known medical text - Shen Nung's Pen Ts'ao, from 3727 BCE in China - as a "superior" herb.

In 1941, Henry Ford created an automobile that was both built out of hemp products and ran on hemp biofuel.

The current legal status of cannabis is a result of successful pressure from the tobacco and petroleum industries in the early 1900s for control of their respective markets.

( This ) has created a situation in which we have lost the possibilities of excellent medical research and advanced technological research for superior products in many industries, incarcerated thousands of productive citizens, and lost millions of dollars in tax revenues.

I believe that history will show this aspect of our economic life to be a significant loss to the public good for the gain of a few in those industries.

The invitation to revisit this situation that comes from those demanding the medical use of marijuana should be embraced as a step toward serious research and testing of marijuana for its potential medical uses. Perhaps this will begin to lead us back into full use of this valuable and ancient natural resource.

Rev. Ann Muir

Pilgrim Congregational, United Church of Christ, Redding

The medical use of marijuana is a compassionate and reasonable use that should not be prosecuted.

In Buddhism, the fifth of the five precepts is, "I undertake the training practice not to use intoxicants that cause heedlessness."

However, the emphasis is not so much about avoiding drugs and alcohol as it is about promoting mindfulness. There is no requirement to suffer pain if palliative relief is available.

The five precepts are not rules to be followed blindly. They are intended to promote harmonious living using skillful means. Skillful means are actions that are appropriate to the situation, do not harm ourselves or others, and are both compassionate - relieving suffering - and kind - promoting happiness and well-being. The precepts are certainly not rigid laws to be inflicted on others, although they are beneficial to individuals and societies when practiced.

Draconian enforcement against individuals for relatively minor drug offenses has caused a scandalous burgeoning of incarceration, resulting in the United States having the highest incarceration rates in the world. In second place, ( the ) People's Republic of China has only 18 percent of the U.S. incarceration rate.

The growing prison industrial complex has made it profitable to warehouse a poor, dispossessed and disproportionately African-American prison population in an environment conducive to graduating hardened and violent criminals with new criminal connections and skills.

Treatment for drug addiction, not incarceration, seems to be the wiser alternative, less harmful and disruptive both to potential prisoners and society in general and less expensive in the long run.

Chris Carrigan, Buddhist

River Oak Sangha, Redding

I really don't want to get into the politics of marijuana use except to say that this latest attempt to decriminalize pot has nothing to do with the benefit to some of its medical uses. Rather, it is just a means to extract more revenues in the form of permits, taxes, etc. for a state that has been unable to balance a budget.

I, for one, do not advocate the use of marijuana or any other drug that alters one's mind and ability to function as God created us.

Are there good uses for pot? I believe the jury is still out on the matter.

This is what I do believe: 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, "Everything is permissible for me," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me," but I will not be mastered by anything. Also, 1 Corinthians 10:23 says, "Everything is permissible," but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible," but not everything is constructive. "Nobody should seek his own good but the good of others."

I'm going to let you, the reader, decide for yourself if the word of God within these few Scriptures will stir your heart into what is best for you, for others and for the state of California.

Jim White, follower of Jesus Christ

Douglas City

This one is personal for me. I have a beloved family member with post-traumatic stress syndrome who relies on his prescription for medicinal marijuana. I can only report that from his perspective and from my personal observation: Marijuana seems to work better for him than what he had prescribed for him previously.

He has had enough challenges in life without having to fear prosecution. Especially since I view his experiences in Vietnam as precursors of his need for medicinal marijuana, I find it ironic that there would be an issue of federal prosecution for its use.

That said, I realize there are people who take advantage of the situation, who grow and sell marijuana illegally, etc. As with any issue, there are many sides to the discussion. What I hold is for compassion and understanding that, given similar circumstances, any one of us could find our self in a similar situation.

Let us hold for peace-filled and fair resolutions for the highest and best for all concerned.

I would like to briefly address the issue of marijuana or any substance use by people seriously on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

There comes a time when the spiritual seeker is called to surrender the use of any mind-altering substance in order to move forward on the spiritual path. God becomes the one source of transformation and the person no longer wants anything to interfere with his or her journey.

Getting high on God is the ultimate journey.

Rev. Sandra Soley Keep

Unity in Redding

I am at a bit at a loss on how to respond to such a question in my capacity as a pastor. This is a civil question, not a religious/theological one.

Of course, as I wrote in the answer to an earlier question, we have the responsibility to obey the government where it does not contradict God's law. This question, though, asks about the manner in which the civil government itself should respond to a violation of a law.

Now, I am not an expert on civil matters and precedence of federal versus state laws. I am not savvy enough in this area to pronounce on whether the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution is pertinent in this case: It appears at first glance that it would be, but if so, then the question has provided its own answer.

If it is illegal, then violators of the law should be prosecuted. Laws that are on the books, but are not prosecuted, are senseless and confusing. ( They ) should either be prosecuted when they are violated or they should be removed from the books.

Rev. Gene Crow, pastor

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Shasta Lake

Since marijuana is still classified by the federal government as a Schedule I drug, it's against federal law for a physician to prescribe it to his or her patients.

Doctors can, however, provide their patients with a written document that recommends marijuana use for their medical conditions, with which said patients can legally obtain and use marijuana in accordance with local and state laws.

The Compassionate Use Act made California, in 1996, the first state to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. SB 420, which was passed in 2004, expanded upon the CUA and provided, among other things, additional protection to collectives and cooperatives that dispense medical marijuana.

Together, the CUA and SB 420 make up California Health and Safety Codes to create the most comprehensive and compassionate legislation for medical marijuana users.

To be deemed eligible to use medical marijuana, you must be diagnosed by a physician as having a "serious medical condition" which may be improved or alleviated by marijuana use.

As of May 2009, 83 percent of counties in California had implemented ( a ) medical marijuana program through which those who qualified could apply for and obtain a medical marijuana identification card.

The MMP, which is a division within the California Department of Public Health, ( is ) administered by the applicant's county of residence. The program allows private residents and law enforcement agents to quickly verify a patient's or patient's caregiver eligibility under the program.

Nothing can keep you from getting arrested, but you might be able to avoid prosecution.

Amarjit Singh

The Sikh Centre, Anderson