Pubdate: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Copyright: 2012 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc. Contact: http://newsminer.com/pages/submit_letters_to_editor Website: http://newsminer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764 Author: Mystiek Lockery MARIJUANA FACTS Letter to the Editor To the editor: Did you know... Marijuana/cannabis prohibition was not recommended or even supported by the medical community, and its conception, drafting and support originated from the political and business communities. Only after a long campaign of negative, carefully constructed false propaganda and threats did medical professionals begin to back the government's anti-marijuana rhetoric. Scientific research run by highly reputable scientists and doctors and several reports commissioned by our government and other governments show marijuana to be medically beneficial and not harmful. The Drug Enforcement Administration itself has funded marijuana research with the hopes of finding negative results but then defunded the project and suppressed the information, when there were positive results instead. Only substances that have no medical value whatsoever qualify as Schedule 1 drugs. Marijuana does not qualify, but is kept there regardless. The DEA's refusal to let marijuana be used medically without harassment, prosecution and imprisonment has caused and will continue to cause literally millions of people to suffer needlessly, and many to even die when marijuana would have helped them live longer and with a better quality of life. The deaths where marijuana is named as a cause involve other substances like alcohol, prescription drugs or other illegal drugs. Marijuana alone has never killed anyone; you cannot overdose on it. It would take hundreds of pounds consumed in an hour. You'd pass out before reaching anything near a lethal amount. Marijuana, used medically or recreationally, does not cause long-term damage to the body or mind (the Shaffer Report, a 1970s huge government study). The DEA uses what scientists call "gutter science" (example: Dr. Tulane's study, that was often quoted by the DEA as proof that marijuana destroys brain cells) to "prove" its position. It also uses parts of studies and findings to slant what people will perceive as the whole result. Everything I have said here is true and verifiable through several sources. A very good book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," by Jack Herer, gives many references and covers a large amount of information I don't have room for here. Mystiek Lockery Fairbanks - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom