Pubdate: Tue, 18 Dec 2012
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Edwin E. Daniel
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Edwin E. Daniel

THE TIME FOR FEAR-MONGERING ABOUT POT IS OVER

Susan Martinuk, in her Dec. 15 column "Legalized marijuana opens
Pandora's box," provided an inaccurate and incomplete set of claims
about marijuana and its claimed dangers.

I write, not as a user, but as a pharmacologist who has followed the
sordid story hyping dangers of pot since the LeDain Report of the
1970s. That report summarized the claims about the dangers of
marijuana and also compared them to the consequences of the illegality
of marijuana use, something Martinuk ignored. It recommended
legalization.

First, many of her claims are in disagreement with the current
evidence. There is no reliable evidence that marijuana smoking per se
causes the same consequences to the airway that tobacco smoking does.
Similarly, that some marijuana smokers have mental illness is not a
valid basis for claiming any causal role of cannabis in these. The
claim that, in some people, marijuana is addicting does not justify
making it illegal. Consider that tobacco smoking is clearly addicting
and alcohol consumption can be, but these are legal acts. It is
certainly true that marijuana consumption is less directly damaging to
individuals and to society than either smoking tobacco or drinking
alcohol.

Now consider the harm in making marijuana consumption illegal. The
clearest examples are in the U.S. and Canada, where many young people
are in jail for consuming it. The direct and indirect costs of their
imprisonment is in the billions of dollars. The consequences on their
lives can be disastrous. Making marijuana illegal provides a basis for
the formation of criminal gangs to raise, smuggle and sell it,
providing the gangs profits as well as connections to the handling of
other illegal drugs. Already, 21 U.S. states have passed laws making
medical marijuana consumption legal.

There is a growing body of evidence that cannabis, cannabinoids and
related agents can have therapeutic effects in chronic pain, nausea
and other chronic problems. Research into the medical uses of cannabis
and related products will proceed more rapidly if the issue of the
legality of its medical use is resolved.

On balance, it should be clear that the time is over for
fear-mongering about the dangers of legalizing marijuana. The benefits
of legalization far outweigh the costs, and any benefits, of
continuation of the war on marijuana.

Edwin E. Daniel

(Edwin E. Daniel of Victoria is professor emeritus of pharmacology at
the University of Alberta.) 
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