Pubdate: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 Source: Evening News, The (CN NS) Copyright: The Evening News Contact: http://www.ngnews.ca/index.cfm?pid=586 Website: http://www.newglasgownews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3343 Author: Russell Barth Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n390/a02.html CRIMINAL PROHIBITION OF MARIJUANA IS UNJUSTIFIED To the editor, Re: Learning to grow the right stuff The problem with the Health Canada medical marijuana program is that it was designed specifically to fail. Leave it to the Canadian federal government to screw up something that even stoners can get right. The reason PPS is having trouble growing good pot is because of Health Canada. They force PPS to grow it to their "standards": standards which have nothing at all to do with high-quality cannabis. "...the use of therapeutic marijuana remains controversial to some...." Actually, the science on cannabis' efficacy is old and solid, and recent science out of Germany shows how cannabinoids stimulate the body's production of TIMP-1, which helps healthy cells resist cancer invasion. www.salem-news.com/articles/january112008/cancer_treatment_11008.php This might explain why chronic pot smokers have lower - not higher - rates of cancer than tobacco smokers (as a recent California study showed). Cannabis also fights Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and MS - look it up. The government and police say marijuana is dangerous, and we prove them liars by living longer and getting healthier. The police say that growing marijuana in a home is dangerous, but we prove them liars by growing the best pot in the world with no danger to the user, the home, or the community. So obviously, the real reason Health Canada doesn't want people using or even thinking about marijuana is because pot will make them healthier, and then people would use fewer Big Pharma products! If the government were to actually research pot, they would find that it has even more medical benefits, disproving eight decades of anti-pot propaganda and absurdist policy-making. Then they can't justify a criminal prohibition, or the need for having so many cops around. The prohibition on marijuana was never about public safety, it was always about control. Is it any wonder they are keen to shut the program down? It directly undermines their agenda! Russell Barth Nepean, Ont. Federal Medical Marijuana Licence Holder Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdNX_k71iw www.rata.ca/paidoc.html - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom