Pubdate: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc. Contact: http://www.thenownews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n117/a04.html Author: Marco Renda MIXED VIEWS ON MS MAN'S IMPAIRED DRIVING SUSPENSION I am appalled to see this action taken against a valid medical marijuana patient. There have been many studies done in other countries that show that anyone who has used marijuana is a much more cautious driver. I know from first-hand experience that most of the medical marijuana patients that I know can medicate and drive. I myself have been stopped by the police in Ontario. Yes I use marijuana as my medicine but it doesn't intoxicate me. How many folks take pharmaceutical drugs and get behind the wheel? The responsibility should really be on the patient to know if they are in a frame of mind to drive. It's obvious that Mr. Sepanta Salmassi wasn't going to be driving anywhere and, if he did want to go somewhere he had other people with him who weren't impaired. Police forces across Canada need to educate their staff on the use of marijuana as medicine and quit treating patients who have a legal right to use marijuana as criminals. The media needs to stop printing propaganda that has marijuana as the devil weed. Marijuana has been used for centuries and nobody has ever died from a marijuana overdose, nor will they. Marco Renda, Publisher and Editor, Treating Yourself: The Alternative Medicine Journal - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake