Pubdate: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 2002 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://www.seattletimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Author: Andrew Brunette Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) SOMETHING ABOUT MARIJUANA Why Are Alcohol, Tobacco, Obesity Acceptable Risks? Editor, The Times: I was pleased to see your editorial support for medical marijuana ("Misjudging marijuana," Times, Sept. 10), but disheartened to see the implied disapproval of recreational use of pot. Your concluding statement was, "The problem is ensuring that marijuana actually is used for medical, not recreational, purposes." Why, precisely, is that a problem? Disapproval for either use is not supported by the data we have. Medical marijuana is an issue today because of the disconnect between government policy and medical reality. Government policy insists that marijuana has no therapeutic value, while hundreds of doctors and thousands of patients have discovered that there is in fact significant value. The citizens of Washington and many other states largely agree. There seems to be no mechanism whereby the government can admit it is wrong, so thousands of government agents are forced to engage in a dance of denial, while thousands of sick and dying people are denied a source of relief. Similarly, government policy insists marijuana has no safe recreational value, while literally tens of millions of U.S. citizens have discovered differently. The vast preponderance of evidence is that recreational use of marijuana by adults is far safer than other permitted recreational drugs, to wit, alcohol, and that the health risks of marijuana are dwarfed by the health risks of alcohol, tobacco and obesity. So, if we permit adults to engage in consumption of alcohol, tobacco and food, what is the logic for constraining their choices in other, safer pursuits? The problem is not recreational use of marijuana, it is the U.S. government's cynical policy of war against its own citizens, for the sake of preserving the federal drug-enforcement bureaucracy. Andrew Brunette, Bellevue - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager