Pubdate: Mon, 16 Sep 2002
Source: Surrey Now (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Wayne Phillips
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1711/a12.html

PRO POT PROHIBITIONIST SHOULD READ REPORT FIRST

The Editor,

Re: "Senate push for legal pot not highly thought of," the Now letters, 
Sept. 7.

It is obvious to any who have read the Senate Summary Report that Ander 
hasn't (read it), plain and simple.

What Ander thinks he knows about cannabis is so flawed that one would be 
hard-pressed to take anything this person says on any subject as credible.

He does, however, take prohibitionist lunacy to new heights of absurdity.

Ander's statement that "...marijuana smokers get lung cancer almost as 
often as their nicotine-addicted counterparts" is run-of-the-mill 
prohibitionist fabrication.

Prominent U.S. researcher John P. Morgan of City University of New York 
Medical School told the Senate Committee that smoking marijuana does not 
seem to cause lung cancer.

"We are some 30 to 40 years into this marijuana epidemic and still have not 
seen evidence of pulmonary cancer in marijuana smokers." (Monday, June 11, 
2001 Canadian Press.)

Ander's notion that "the overall death rate is relatively low precisely 
because marijuana usage is relatively low" is also typical prohibitionist 
nonsense.

The Senate report tells us that 30 per cent of the population (12 to 64 
years old) has used cannabis at least once; approximately two million 
Canadians over age 18 have used cannabis during the previous 12 months; 
approximately 600,000 have used it during the past month, and approximately 
100,000 use it daily.

Ander demonstrates exactly how delusional prohibitionist paranoia is when 
he goes on about tobacco companies lacing existing tobacco brands with 
subliminal levels of marijuana.

Wayne Phillips

Hamilton, Ont.
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MAP posted-by: Alex