{"id":7939,"date":"2011-11-05T20:10:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-05T20:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=7939"},"modified":"2016-10-04T15:57:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T15:57:50","slug":"california-medical-association-not-so-medical-says-drug-policy-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2011\/11\/california-medical-association-not-so-medical-says-drug-policy-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"California Medical Association Not So Medical Says Drug Policy Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The California Medical Association (CMA) took a major leap lacking science and common sense. With the issuance of a White Paper calling for the legalization of marijuana for medical and non-medial purposes, they have transitioned from a medical group into a lapdog of the drug legalization lobby.<\/span>
\n \u201cI am thoroughly appalled by the CMA\u2019s decision to release this policy in an attempt to legalize a drug that we know causes so much harm to individuals and families,\u201d said Eric Voth, M.D., F.A.C.P. and Chair of the Institute on Global Drug Policy. \u201cThe CMA has managed to single-handedly make a mockery of modern medicine and the ethical practices of physicians. There is nothing scientific about this White Paper \u2013 it is total politics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The White Paper just released contains a number of incorrect statements. Contrary to what the paper states:<\/span>
\n \u2022 According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the rate of current, past 30-day use of marijuana by Americans aged 12 and older in 1979 was 13.2%. In 2008 that figure stood at 6.1%. This 54% reduction over that 29-year period is a major public health triumph, not a failure! Now, we must not only push back against the drugs but, the advocates who seek to normalize and legalize them.<\/span>
\n \u2022 The Netherlands reclassified high potency marijuana as a \u201chard drug\u201d because of the harms that have occurred from the drug and moved to shut down hundreds of \u201ccoffee shops\u201d that serve marijuana. Their lenient policy caught up with them and they are moving back to more conservative actions.<\/span>
\n \u2022 Portugal\u2019s policy that decriminalized consumption and possession of illicit drugs in 2001 was a dismal failure. The 2007 national drug survey showed an increase in life-time prevalence of drug use in the general population, especially regarding cannabis use and use of cocaine has nearly doubled. Cocaine seizures increased seven-fold between 2001and 2006 and murders increased 40%.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe CMA is dead wrong in asserting that the marijuana legalization movement is driven by the public. Instead it is driven by a group of well-financed legalization advocates. The ballot initiative to legalize pot was defeated in California and no other state has approved such an ill-advised policy, despite millions of dollars poured into this effort by ivory-tower elitists unaffected by the impact of drug use, like the rest of us. Even the issue of marijuana as medicine was rejected by two-thirds of the country,\u201d stated Calvina Fay, Executive Director of Drug Free America Foundation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is laudable that CMA supports more research and more education efforts to reduce marijuana use among children, adolescents, and young adults (although we believe it should include all adults). Ongoing research into potential medicines and cures is an important endeavor but, the solution should be to require marijuana to meet the standards of modern medicine, not by ballot initiatives or legislation and certainly not by legalizing it for recreational use\u201d Fay concluded.<\/span>
\n Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. is dedicated to fighting drug use, drug addiction and drug trafficking and to promoting effective sound drug policies, education and prevention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: www.dfaf.org October 17, 2011<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The California Medical Association (CMA) took a major leap lacking science and common sense. With the issuance of a White Paper calling for the legalization of marijuana for medical and non-medial purposes, they have transitioned from a medical group into a lapdog of the drug legalization lobby. \u201cI am thoroughly appalled by the CMA\u2019s decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-specifics","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}