Pubdate: Monday, Feb. 22, 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: David d'Apollonia Related: http://www.mapinc.org/v99.n190.a06.html Comment: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor; headline by newshawk Although I am encouraged when a doctor decides to speak out honestly about medical uses of marijuana, Dr. Gifford-Jones fails to grasp the root and heart of the issue is Cannabis prohibition. Excuse me for living, Dr. Gifford-Jones, but if I were to apply your simplistic standards of "drug safety", as you self-righteously evoke over marijuana, none of us would be permitted to eat, drink or do just about anything really. Forget about even walking on eggshells, our lives would consist of living inside a sterile protective bubble. Get real! It's been evident for hundreds of years, if not thousands, that cannabis is relatively safe both medically, as well as recreationally. The real harm is from the War on (some) Drugs and the obsolete, insane and cruel laws that make criminals of the cannabis user, whether they do so for medical or recreational reasons or both. David d'Apollonia Dartmouth, N.S. (Getting medical clearance for marijuana is a logical, and prudent, step toward what you want) - --- MAP posted-by: Pat Dolan