Pubdate: Sat, 14 May 2016 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2016 Eryn Yaromy Contact: http://www.timescolonist.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Author: Eryn Yaromy Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n316/a03.html MARIJUANA IS INNOCUOUS, HELPFUL Re: "Dispensing marijuana is quackery," letter, May 6. I've suffered from chronic insomnia since my early teens, and cannabis has been the only thing that has helped me sleep regularly. Rather than using man-made pharmaceuticals with well-documented and frightening side effects, I've chosen to use cannabis before bed and have had nothing but positive results. I am not a miscreant: I graduated from both high school and university with distinction and contribute to society with a steady job and volunteerism. Where is this "mountain of evidence" saying that the cannabis plant, which has been used since the Mesolithic era, is unsafe for human consumption? Perhaps the writer has never had chronic sleeping problems, severe muscle or joint pain, trouble eating due to chemotherapy treatment or one of myriad other issues regular, otherwise law-abiding citizens have found cannabis to be helpful with. This evidence might be only anecdotal, but if cannabis helps people with such issues, who is it hurting? I also take issue with the outrageous and misguided comparison of cannabis to alcohol - no one has ever died from using cannabis, nor has this plant ever caused a person to go off the rails the way alcohol can. Thank goodness we are finally coming to our senses and legitimizing the use of this helpful, innocuous plant. It will be fully legalized in another year, so I suggest the writer should get over it. Eryn Yaromy Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D