Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jun 2016
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: William R. Todd-Mancillas

EVIDENCE SHOWS CANNABIS HAS THERAPEUTIC VALUE

One of the contentions maintained for justifying the illegality of 
cannabis is that it lacks therapeutic value. We could go back and 
forth expressing our opinions on whether cannabis can be therapeutic, 
but it would be more productive to consider the evidence.

Carl Sagan, one of the most profound philosophers and scientists of 
the past 100 years, devoted the last years of his life to persuading 
the public to accept scientific methodology as a preferred means of 
answering important questions. He summarized the scientific method as 
myriad procedures for: specifying in quantitative terms a question, 
objectively gathering empirical data answering that question, then 
interpreting results in the absence of preconceived notions.

When this method is applied to answering the question of whether 
cannabis has therapeutic benefits, the answer is crystal clear. It 
does. Among its demonstrated therapeutic uses is its treatment for 
arthritis, appetite disorders, nausea and vomiting, anxiety, multiple 
sclerosis, insomnia, migraines, neuropathy, chronic pain, PTSD, and 
even possibly as an adjunct for ameliorating withdrawal from 
addictions to truly debilitating drugs (e.g., heroine). Discussion of 
these findings can be found in readable, substantiated publications.

Thus, the uninformed contention that cannabis has no therapeutic 
value is simply false, and its basis for legal proscription both 
unwarranted and medically harmful. Nor is cannabis addictive, the 
other erroneous justification for its proscription.

- - William R. Todd-Mancillas, Chico
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom