norml08 - Page 20

 their regular medicines while trying marijuana, the damage
 could be irreversible. It is a cruel hoax to offer false
 hope to desperately ill people.
 Those who insist marijuana has medical uses would serve
 society better by promoting or sponsoring more legitimate
 scientific research, rather than throwing their time, money
 and rhetoric into lobbying, public relations campaigns and
 perennial litigation°
 Clarification of Currently Accepted Medical Use
 The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 divides the
 universe of all drugs of abuse into five sets or schedules.
 Drugs in Schedule I are subject to the most severe controls,
 because they have a high potential for abuse and no
 currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United
 States° 2i U.S.C. 8!2(b) (i). Drugs of abuse which have
 currently accepted medical use in tr_atment in the United
 States are placed in Schedules !I_ III, IV and V_
 Regrettably_ the Controlled Substances Act does not speak
 directly to what is meant by _curren_:ly accepted medical
 use ° _
 A century before the Controlled Substances Act was
 enacted, the determination of what dzcugs to accept as
 medicine was totally democratic and "zotally standardless.
 Each patient and each physician was free to decide for
 himself, often based on no more than anecdotal evidence.
 2O