Pubdate: Sun, 05 Nov 2000
Source: Halifax Daily News (CN NS)
Copyright: 2000 The Daily News.
Contact:  http://www.hfxnews.southam.ca/
Author: Loren Wiberg

POLITICIANS AVOID POT ISSUE

To the editor:

Marijuana should be available, for legal use, for medical reasons. The
marijuana that is produced should be strictly controlled and regulated
by the federal government. Then it can be studied to find out what
medical properties it has and how it can more effectively [be] used.

The candidates of all the major parties are skilled at politely
dodging the specific questions regarding medical marijuana. This
evasiveness is common, from the would-be MP, right up to the party
leaders. Each voter should ask their candidates these questions:

What is your policy on the use of medical marijuana by Canadians who
are suffering from serious diseases (such as cancer, AIDS and MS) when
it is recommended by their own doctor, and supported by the second
opinion of another doctor or doctors?

Does your party state a position regarding medical marijuana in
writing anywhere, in print, on the Internet or somewhere else?

Is your party opposed to the tightly controlled and regulated
production of medical marijuana in a high-security facility that is
specifically designed to: protect public safety, ensure the safety of
the staff, and guarantee that no medical marijuana can go missing or
be diverted to the wrong people?

What steps would you take, if elected, to ensure a tightly regulated,
safe, secure supply of medical marijuana is made available for these
ill Canadians who need it and to the research scientists who want to
study it?

If research is able to discover new treatments for disease that can
lead to new medical marijuana therapies and do not require the patient
to smoke the medical marijuana, how will that reinforce or change your
opinions?

What is your opinion on Canadian Government laws making medical
marijuana legal under certain very strict conditions, but requiring
the people who have permission to use medical marijuana to either grow
their own, or buy it from a criminal?

I am deeply disappointed with the people who want us to elect them as
the leaders of our country. They are far more concerned with their own
political maneuvering than they are in answering these basic questions
about the health and quality of life of Canadians.

Loren Wiberg,
Innisfail, Alta.
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