MARIJUANA MEDICINE APPROVED PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #307 - Friday, 22 April 2005 This past Tuesday the continuing efforts to put medical marijuana into a regulated commercial market took a huge step forward. Canada became the first nation to approve a pharmaceutical prescription spray, Sativex, made from marijuana -- a move that could shift the medical marijuana debate in the U.S. Sativex is a natural marijuana extract developed by a British company, GW Pharmaceuticals. It is a liquid that is sprayed into the mouth. Made from marijuana plants bred for specific levels of various active components, called cannabinoids, Sativex is similar to marijuana-based extracts and tinctures which were legally available in the United States until 1937. It is expected to be available in Canadian pharmacies within weeks. The approval of Sativex by the Canadian government and the expected approval in coming months by the government of Great Britain stands as a direct rebuke of the U.S. government's insistence that 'marijuana has no known or accepted medical value.' PLEASE CONSIDER writing a Letter to the Editor to one or more of the newspapers which printed this story. You can see a continually updating list of these articles here: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Sativex If you choose to write to more than one newspaper, please vary your message, especially if the newspapers are in the same geographic market. Our experience has shown that letters submitted Friday through Sunday have the best chance of being printed for the following week, so please consider sending your letters soon. Even if an article about Sativex being approved for use in Canada has not been printed in newspapers in your area, a short well written letter about the facts could still be published in those newspapers. Medical cannabis is an issue of interest to newspapers! Contacts for sending letters may be found at: http://www.mapinc.org/media.htm Facts about Sativex may be found at these sources: Questions and Answers About Sativex - Liquid Medical Marijuana: http://www.mpp.org/sativex.html GW Pharmaceuticals Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.gwpharm.com/faqs.asp Thanks for your effort and support. It's not what others do it's what YOU do Additional suggestions for writing LTEs are at our Media Activism Center: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ Or contact MAP Media Activism Facilitator Steve Heath for personal tips on how to write LTEs that get printed. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER Please post a copy of your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list so others can learn from your efforts. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form Prepared by: Stephen Heath, MAP Media Activism Facilitator =

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