Pubdate: Thu, 06 Jun 2002 Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA) Copyright: 2002 PG Publishing Contact: http://www.post-gazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/341 Author: Bruce Mirken Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) LET OTHERS BENEFIT FROM MEDICAL MARIJUANA The recent wave of obituaries for the brilliant scientist and author Stephen Jay Gould commonly left out a significant fact: Gould was a medical marijuana user. Diagnosed with a particularly lethal form of cancer in 1982 and given eight months to live, he survived 20 years -- and endured the horrors of chemotherapy -- thanks to medical marijuana. While other drugs failed to curb the nausea caused by his treatment, he wrote, marijuana "worked like a charm." He added, "It is beyond my comprehension that any humane person would withhold such a beneficial substance from people in such great need." Gould went on to testify in the 1998 Canadian court case that eventually resulted in the establishment of that nation's medical marijuana program. What a shame our nation's leaders -- as addicted to "war on drugs" rhetoric as they are allergic to facts -- failed to consult this great scientist before declaring war on the medical use of marijuana. BRUCE MIRKEN Director of Communications Marijuana Policy Project Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth