Pubdate: Fri, 19 Feb 1999
Source: Canadian Online Explorer
Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/
Forum: http://interact.canoe.ca/cgi-bin/speakeasy/
Author: Paul Holm-Andersen
Comment: Parenthetical remark by the Canoe editor

MARIJUANA USE FOR THE ILL

Re: Marijuana use for the ill. I firmly believe that Canada will never
legalize this substance in any form until they get permission from the
U.S.  The U.S. is still waging its "War on Drugs" (even though they will
not consider any sort of firearm control) and think they are on the
righteous track.

A harm reduction program would make much more sense but don't hold
your breath, we'll never get U.S. permission.

It would be interesting to see Dr. Gifford-Jones write an article
comparing the use of marijuanna with the use of alcohol.

However, don't expect such an article to make much of a difference in
Ottawa's stance toward marijuana and alcohol.

There is an abundance of information and statistics available.  With
alcohol we seem to say its OK for adults to harm themselves (and many
other people such as families, industry, and on the road) but with
marijuana they take the high moral road and state that government will
dictate what bad habits we can live with, or perhaps more accurately,
which bad habits the U.S.A. will allow us to live with.

The internet is an interesting place, all of us now can get
information from both sides of any issue.

Perhaps Dr. Gifford Jones should do some exploring outside the
mainstream medical texts.

Heres just one place to start
http://user.aol.com/jperetto/linkinfo/linkinfo.html

Paul Holm-Andersen

(There will be legal use of marijuana; the question is when will the
political will be strong enough)
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MAP posted-by: Derek Rea