A New York Times article has Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s medical reporter as the leading contender to become the next surgeon general.

Meanwhile the Daily Green lists the “The 6 Most Idiotic Positions of Dr. Sanjay Gupta”. One of his statements is “”But I’m here to tell you, as a doctor, that despite all the talk about the medical benefits of marijuana, smoking the stuff is not going to do your health any good.”

Does the USA really need another of these types in a position of power? In a 2006 Time Magazine article entitled “Why I Would Vote No On Pot” he says

But I suspect that most of the people eager to vote yes on the new ballot measures aren’t suffering from glaucoma, Alzheimer’s or chemo-induced nausea. Many of them just want to get stoned legally. That’s why I, like many other doctors, am unimpressed with the proposed legislation, which would legalize marijuana irrespective of any medical condition.

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Which is supposedly good reason for voting no. Immediately previous to that though he states

Several recent studies, including a new one from the Scripps Research Institute, show that THC, the chemical in marijuana responsible for the high, can help slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. (In fact, it seems to block the formation of disease-causing plaques better than several mainstream drugs.) Other studies have shown THC to be a very effective antinausea treatment for people–cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, for example–for whom conventional medications aren’t working. And medical cannabis has shown promise relieving pain in patients with multiple sclerosis and reducing intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients.

So it seems that if some people want to use marijuana for recreational purposes it justifies making criminals of the people who use it for multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, antinausea. The reasoning hardly seems logical. This from the person who believed that the Raelian-connected Clonaid group had “the capacity to clone”. Check out the Daily Green story for some really off the wall talk from the next surgeon general.

Wed 7 Jan 2009