Pubdate: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2002 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: George Stewart Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) POLL ON USE OF MARIJUANA IS NOT CREDIBLE Re: Most 'medical' marijuana use illegal: poll, Feb. 3. The conclusion that more than one million Canadians are breaking the law by smoking marijuana for medical purposes, without knowing a permit is required, is questionable, as it is based on a survey that seems to be flawed. Just because the vast majority of those who participated in the survey did not volunteer a comment in their responses indicating they knew that medicinal use of this drug requires a permit from the government, does not mean they are unaware of this legal requirement. Without a specific question being asked in the survey on this particular aspect, I do not see how this conclusion can be drawn. It may well be that most of the respondents felt it goes without saying that a permit is required by law, and did not see a need to indicate this in their answer because that could, in effect, be an admission that they knowingly flout the law. One also wonders how many of the survey respondents might state that their use of marijuana was a medical necessity (kidding themselves, of course ) in an attempt to justify their habit. But it would be more useful to know how many seriously ill people are using the drug, with full knowledge that they are breaking the law, simply because the process of getting approval for medical use is too complicated and too slow. George Stewart Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Beth