Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2001
Source: Evening Post (New Zealand)
Copyright: Wellington Newspapers (2001) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.evpost.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/142
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT STUDY FLAWED

I'M NOT surprised to read that Green MP Nandor Tanczos won't be 
backing off his campaign to legalise cannabis despite American 
scientists warning it may increase the risk of heart attacks in 
middle-aged people (The Post, June 13).

The results of Dr Mittleman's study are hardly newsworthy. The flaws 
are readily apparent to anyone with a basic understanding of research 
methods.

The sample size is statistically insignificant, no causal 
relationship has been established, and the study itself has never 
been replicated. Out of 3882 patients who had heart attacks, 124 were 
current cannabis smokers and nine had smoked within an hour of their 
heart attack.

Based on this minuscule self-selected sample, Dr Mittleman concludes 
that the risk of a heart attack is 4.8 times higher after smoking 
cannabis.

Assuming Dr Mittleman's conclusions are accurate, the fact that heart 
attack risk for an otherwise healthy 50-year-old man is about 10 in 
one million highlights the sensationalism of the widespread publicity 
the study is receiving.

Such junk science is routinely funded by the United States Government 
and well-publicised. Millions has been spent trying to find harm in a 
relatively harmless plant. Regardless of whether or not the study in 
question is subjected to peer review, the results will no doubt be 
repeated by drug warriors for decades.

ROBERT SHARPE
The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation
Washington, DC
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe