Pubdate: Sun, 01 Mar 1998
Date: March 1, 1998
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Author: Mark Greer

Editor -- Failure of the press to cover the suppression of the World Health
Organizations findings that cannabis (marijuana) is much safer than tobacco
or alcohol could easily be construed as demonstrating a bias on behalf of
protecting a well-funded liquor and tobacco industry. 

A studious nationwide search failed to produce a single U.S. newspaper that
carried the Reuters news service article that detailed the repression of
this report. Numerous Canadian and UK publications printed this
information. Why not this or any other U.S. paper? New Scientist Magazine
reported in it's February 21 edition and on-line at
http://marijuana.newscientist.com/ that the WHO attempted to hide the facts.

According to New Scientist, which published a special report on marijuana
on February 18, a leaked document about the analysis concluded that
marijuana posed less of a public health threat than alcohol or cigarettes,
even if people consumed the drug on the same scale as the other substances.
It certainly looks like the conspiratorial even if it isn't. 

Mark Greer

Executive Director The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
Porterville