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Testimony of Dr. David Murray
Chief Scientist, Office of National Drug Control Policy
Before the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism,
and Homeland Security
“Hearing on the Drug Enforcement Administration's Regulation of Medicine”
July 12, 2007
Medical Marijuana Laws Do Not Work
Ten years of national experience with state-based voter referenda and legislative actions legalizing medical marijuana under state law also have bred abuse, confusion, and crime. An increasing number of reports have begun to illustrate this phenomenon. Consider the following:
- Medical marijuana laws lead to drug-related violence. Since the first medical marijuana law passed in the United States, as many as 20 “legal” medical marijuana providers have been killed around the country, mostly in robberies. (Killing Highlights Risk of Selling Marijuana. New York Times, March 2nd, 2007).
- Medical marijuana laws protect drug dealers. After Colorado legalized medical marijuana, a local CBS television station discovered that licensed medical marijuana providers were using medical marijuana laws to foster drug dealing. In one instance, a CBS reporter asked Ken Gorman, a licensed medical marijuana provider and user, how many people he had given marijuana to who weren't sick. He responded by saying, “Hundreds….When we passed the [medical marijuana] law we passed a great, great law…There are so many holes in it that for us, the patient, police can't do anything.” Ken Gorman admitted he didn't have a medical condition and “just wanted to get high.” Gorman was killed a month later in a marijuana-related robbery. (CBS Denver, February 11th, 2007, Glazer, Andrew. Medical Marijuana Clinics Face Crackdown, Associated Press, March 11th, 2007.)
- Founding proponents of medical marijuana in the United States have reversed their key positions of support for medical marijuana . Rev. Scott Imler, Co-founder of Prop 215, has lamented the passage of California's medical marijuana law stating that, “We created Prop. 215 so that patients would not have to deal with black market profiteers. But today it is all about the money. Most of the dispensaries operating in California are little more than dope dealers with store fronts.” Imler also said that medical marijuana has “turned into a joke.” Steve Kubby, another Co-founder of medical marijuana in California stated in a letter to supporters on April 14th, 2006 that “Marinol is an acceptable, if not ideal, substitute for whole cannabis in treating my otherwise fatal disease.” (Alternatives magazine, Fall, 2006 Issue 39, San Gabriel Valley Tribune 2/07, Message from Steve Kubby, Steve Kubby Released After Serving 62 Days in Jail, April 14th, 2006)
Last Updated: July 16, 2007
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