Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - Wednesday, October 30, 1996
A group fighting the California proposal said President Clinton's drug policy chief, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, announced Clinton's opposition to the measure in Los Angeles Tuesday.
It said McCaffrey also released a letter signed by former presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford stating their opposition to the California initiative and a similar Arizona measure that will be voted on next week.
"Both initiatives are hoaxes that seek to cloak drug legalization under the guise of compassion for the ill or strengthening drug laws," Bush, Carter and Ford wrote.
"Given the resurgent drug use by our youth, these measures pose enormous threats to the public health of Arizonians, Californians, and all Americans," they said.
"They send the erroneous message that dangerous and addictive drugs such as heroin, LSD, marijuana and methamphetamine are safe," they said, urging voters in Arizona and California to vote against the initiatives.
McCaffrey also released a letter from former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop opposing the California initiative.
"When I was surgeon general, I helped get warning labels on every pack of cigarettes. Now, I'd like to put a warning label on a California marijuana initiative that is bad for America," Koop said.
The California measure would allow sick people and their "primary caregiver" to legally possess and grow marijuana for medical use when recommended by a doctor. Both possessing and growing the drug are crimes under current state law.
Supporters say marijuana often eases nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, reduces the pain of AIDS patients and lowers eye pressure in glaucoma sufferers.
Opponents allege the proposal is an attempt to legalize marijuana through the back door.
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