Task Force studying how Maine s new medical marijuana law can comply with federal laws is unlikely to find any new evidence that smoking marijuana has utility as a medical agent. The Department of Justice has recently published a study on drug use. A petition to put marijuana on a less restrictive schedule of the Controlled Substances Act was rejected in 1989 and a federal Court of Appeals ordered further proceedings to clear up what it felt were some ambiguities in the record. The three-judge appeals court upheld the ruling unanimously on Feb. 18, 1994.
Medical evidence indicates that marijuana is more damaging to the lungs than nicotine.
Not only is the particulate matter damaging, but it has special toxic effects on the user. A study by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse has estimated that 13.8 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 25 have used marijuana in the last month. There is nothing to indicate that placing it at the same level as alcohol would diminish that usage. That shocking report ought to be considered by the Attorney General s Task Force. It seems unlikely that the task force can improve on the known history of marijuana and its use.