Pot Shots

IN August 1996, two months after Proposition 215 qualified for the California ballot, drug czar Barry McCaffrey offered his first public assessment of the medical-marijuana initiative. “There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed,” he said. “This is not science. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax that sounds more like something out of a Cheech and Chong show.”

That November the initiative passed with 65 per cent of the vote, and on December 30, McCaffrey appeared at a press conference with Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. Posing as defenders of science and responsible medicine, they threatened doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients with loss of prescribing privileges, exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid, and criminal prosecution. Asked whether there was “any evidence . . . that marijuana is useful in a medical situation,” McCaffrey replied, “No, none at all. There are hundreds of studies that indicate it isn’t.”

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Jacob Sullum

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IN August 1996, two months after Proposition 215 qualified for the California ballot, drug czar Barry McCaffrey offered his first public assessment of the medical-marijuana initiative. “There is not a shred of scientific evidence that shows that smoked marijuana is useful or needed,” he said. “This is not science. This is not medicine. This is a cruel hoax that sounds more like something out of a Cheech and Chong show.”

That November the initiative passed with 65 per cent of the vote, and on December 30, McCaffrey appeared at a press conference with Attorney General Janet Reno and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala. Posing as defenders of science and responsible medicine, they threatened doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients with loss of prescribing privileges, exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid, and criminal prosecution. Asked whether there was “any evidence . . . that marijuana is useful in a medical situation,” McCaffrey replied, “No, none at all. There are hundreds of studies that indicate it isn’t.”