Pubdate: Wed,  1 Aug 2001
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2001, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Eugene Oscapella, Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy

RX FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Ottawa -- It is more than a little disingenuous to boast that Canada is the 
first country in the world to allow access to marijuana for medical 
purposes (Marijuana Regulation Draws Fire -- July 31). Innovators we are 
not. Several U.S. states, with a collective population much larger than 
Canada's, have either passed laws permitting medical access, or have seen 
voter referendums compel medical access. Several countries in Europe have 
decriminalized or legalized cannabis possession -- for any purpose. The 
Netherlands was the first to do so, in 1976. This was 25 years before our 
timid Canadian step of giving access to those who survive long enough to 
cross the sea of red tape that the new medical marijuana regulations impose.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens