10/10/2000 - MEDIA RELEASE DOCTORS FOR LIFE (DFL) REJECTS LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC REASONS In a court case which signals a historic juncture in South African history, Doctors For Life has been asked to provide medical and scientific evidence on the harmful effects of marijuana on the brain, body and society. The court case places South Africa at the crest of the "slippery slope", insofar as the progressive argument for the legalisation of the so-called "harder drugs" is concerned. Should dagga be legalised / decriminalised, there will be national repercussions for the decriminalisation of its use, possession and sale. From an International perspective South Africa will also be in breach of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, to which it is bound as a signatory. DFL’s evidence has been placed before the Court in a case where a Rastafarian law graduate, Gareth Prince has been refused entry to the attorneys profession by the Cape Law Society. Mr Prince was refused entry because he admitted to being a marijuana smoker and stated that he did not intend stopping after his admission. DFL accessed and networked with a pool of the most eminent international medical and research experts in this field. Collectively they represent the most up-dated scientific opinion on the harmful effects of both medicinal and non-medicinal applications of marijuana. The scientific argument against the legalisation of marijuana is so convincing that DFL cannot see how anybody can ignore it. The toxic properties of chemical molecules and their cellular damage are not matters of opinion or debate. They are not determined by adolescents or by scientifically uneducated lawyers, legislators, or even doctors without the facts. They are certainly not determined by talk-show hosts or the mayors of our beleaguered cities. We cannot vote for or against the toxicity of a drug. How much a drug impairs cell structure or chemical function is neither subject to or governed by select committee or public referendum. We cannot govern the electromagnetic behaviour of chemical molecules by popular vote, judicial proclamation, personal opinion or individual desire. Everyone is entitled to his own "opinion". He is NOT entitled to his own "facts". Chemically, marijuana is a far more dangerous drug than most of the scientifically ignorant media and the consumer may have been fooled into believing. If marijuana were to be decriminalised in South Africa, will there be a way to gauge adverse effects in different populations? How will the law prevent unfettered use by youth, by train conductors, by bus drivers, or pilots? Would you really want your anaesthesiologist to be under the influence of legal marijuana whilst he/she is controlling your oxygenation? Will we have a set of brakes in place should we find out that decriminalisation is causing immense harm to our young people? In other words, how difficult would it be to reverse a decision and how quickly could the reversal be carried out? DFL considers it crucial that this matter be dealt with on the basis of scientific fact and not on opinion cloaked in the pseudoscientific robes of those committed to liberal and unfettered use of marijuana as an intoxicant. For more information contact: Dr Albu van Eeden 031 764-0443. |
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