Pubdate: Fri, 08 Sep 2006 Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica) Copyright: 2006 The Gleaner Company Limited Contact: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/feedback.html Website: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/493 Author: Wayne Phillips MARIJUANA HAS ITS PLACE The Editor, Sir: Contrary to the assertions made in 'Dangers of ganja widely ignored', Dr. Daniele Piomelli, a professor of pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine, was recently quoted as saying he had "never met a scientist who would say that marijuana is either dangerous or useless." Since 1969, government-appointed commissions in the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and the Netherlands, after reviewing the scientific evidence, concluded that marijuana's dangers had previously been greatly exaggerated. These were the findings of London, England, U.K. Home Office, March 2002. True today Apparently, this is still true today. An article entitled, 'More Suppression of Marijuana Research' by Fred Gardner April 22, 2006, CounterPunch (US Web) http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner04222006.html, further describes how honest research such as M. Dreher's 'Jamaican Pregnancy Study' is still being impeded. 'Dangers of ganja widely ignored' neither cites sources nor offers any validation whatsoever. The infomercial presented was probably garnered from the DEA and ONDCP disinformation propaganda sites. I am, etc., Wayne Phillips, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - --- MAP posted-by: Derek