Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 1997)
EDITOR Doug Kouma OPINION EDITOR Anthony Nguyen EDITORIAL BOARD Anne Hjersman Paula Lavigne Joshua GilHn Jessica Kennedy Jeff Randall Guest VIEW Marijuana Drug needs more testing before used medicinally From the San Diego Union-Tribune Medicinal marijuana use is all the rage right now. But studies showing the drug is good medicine are decidedly mixed, with the negative data outweighing the positive. Before widespread use of any medicine is allowed in this country, rigorous testing is required. That’s why the Clinton administra tion should direct the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a definitive study on the medicinal use of marijuana. It should have been done long ago. De spite claims that the drug can alleviate the suffering of cancer and glaucoma patients, it also has some serious side effects, namely getting stoned. National Institute of Health experts say there’s no evidence that smoking marijuana provides any health benefits, par ticularly none that can’t be found through a synthetic alternative, absent the side effects. However, some of the more reckless ac tivists favor medicinal marijuana use, specifi cally for the side effect of getting stoned. To allow our current lax attitudes toward drug use to become mixed up in the debate over die purported medicinal benefits of marijuana is asking for trouble. That’s precisely why scientific experts should resolve the medicinal marijuana de bate. A National Academy of Sciences study that includes clinical trials could prove whether smoking marijuana has medical value, and if so, exactly how it should be used. Medicinal marijuana laws and the national debate are premature without the scientific certainty of whether the drug can be used safely. Until we know if marijuana is an effec tive medicine, the Clinton administration is right to crack down on doctors who prescribe it. While states should exercise certain pow ers, promoting drug use is not one of them. Neither state legislatures nor voters should be deciding what medical procedures and drugs are permissible. Science must decide that. "S Research and clinical trials of marijuana use could take some time. But just as doctors are not allowed to prescribe or recommend any drug until it is proven safe, they should not be allowed to do so with marijuana. Doc tors who recommend marijuana before the research is completed should be penalized. Federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey warns that doctors found recommending mari juana to patients could lose their license to prescribe drugs or face criminal charges. That is reasonable, since doctors who prescribe other drugs that lack FDA approval are sub ject to penalties. Why should marijuana be any different? Until conclusive scientific studies show that marijuana is safe and effective for me dicinal purposes, doctors should not encour age its use. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Spring 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska , Board of Regents. A column is soley the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito rial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edi torial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let ters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Sub . mitted material becomes the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affilia tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl .edu. Mehsling’s VIEW YEAH, \ Guess IT Wife I VJRONG TO HE, BUT THE L TRUTH \S \ mm THINK I \VJ0UU0 £e CAUGHT. I J . ■ 1 Anthony NGUYEN ^ Surfin’ toward a new semester Opinion page to change as semester progresses Sitting at home on a Saturday night. Carousing the ‘net. I’m not looking for love. No, just looking for other university newspapers on the web. A site on how to get a date in ten days, “guaranteed,” catches my eye. Stop. Point and click. Nope, it’s nothing that’ll help my “friend’s” problems. Time to move on. Too much coffee. Too much sex cm the brain. But I must, must find other dailies to look at. I stop for a quick five push-ups, the ice cream kind helps me to maintain my Mr. Universe physique-then return back , to the computer. Listening to Dave Matthews Band. Neighbors upstairs have either just discovered gravity “does” exist or are experimenting with the acoustical signature of dropped bowling balls. Oh, well, that’s life. Welcome back, Kotter. Okay, so you might not have the swagger of a Vinny Barbarino, or the hair or clothes for that matter. But you are back in school, and it’s time to get back in the groove. Regardless if your definition of groove is 4.0 or skipping classes — the second semester has begun. So, why am I spending Saturday night, all by my lonesome self, surfing the net and looking at university newspaper sites? Well, lack of a good social life ... okay, truthfully, no social life and my current job at the DN has me in a tizzy. (Do people use that word anymore?) * It all started back in the blizzard of ’86, and dem ‘ole bastages in Gulp Canyon...whoops, wrong life. Really, though, it began when Editor-in-Chief Doug Kouma hired me to be the new Opinion Pages 66 I’m not a person who makes promises lightly, so to avoid any letters to me, I won’t promise mega blockbuster-kick ass-and-don’t-take names changes.” Editor for the spring. My first thought was, COOL! Okay not really, but thinking about grabbing burger and voicing it aloud are two different things. I left for Christmas break stress free — I mean, no classes and I stil work for the DN—what more cou you ask for? Came back this past week and that’s when the hammer fell on me unmercifully. Picas and points? Headers and decks? Layout pages? Budget? Tell me when this ride stops, ‘cuz I think I’m gonna puke. Hey man, I’m only a biochem and philos major. And that’s why I’m surfing the ‘net on a Saturday night. I needed to get the creative juices flowing, get back in the writing mood, and find what I think works or doesn’t work in an opinion page. The opinion pages this semester will keep a lot of the components you expect — like letters to the editor (I really fought against it, but ...), guest commentary, our weekly columnists, the editorial and, of course, the ed cartoon. But I hope to add things like crossfire-style debates — to get us all to think about the issues which affect us as students, as well as the community at-large. I hope to package things to make the opinion pages more interesting. I’m not a person who makes promises lightly, so to avoid any letters to me, I won’t promise mega blockbuster- kick-ass-and-don’t take-names changes. It’ll be a gradual process. Painful to me, but hopefully not to you. And as you can tell, I won’t be coming to you in a weekly format anymore, but I’ll try to stop by every couple of weeks to bore you—if I haven’t gone crazy by then. I hope that in the next few weeks you’ll a enjoy some of the changes made to the opinion pages, and that eventu ally you’ll look at the changes as a regular feature. Well, please forgive n 1 any editorial faux pas I make these Id next few weeks and throughout the semester. So, until next time, enjoy. * Nguyen is a senior biochemistry and philosophy major and the Daily .Nebraskan opinion editor.