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REAGAN HARMED BY 'JUST SAY NO'

Regarding your editorial of June 27, "Get politics out of stem cell debates," it seems rather ironic that the "just say no" policies of Nancy Reagan and the Reagan administration in the end harmed Ronald Reagan.

It was Reagan's administration that set the tone for banning stem cell research by all but banning research into medical marijuana, as well as rendering therapeutic cannabis laws passed by over 30 states including Wisconsin symbolic, by refusing to supply these programs with government pot.

In recent years, marijuana has shown great promise as a treatment for agitation resulting from Alzheimer's, and studies have shown that Marinol, synthetic THC, the most psychoactive component in whole marijuana, is useful for that purpose.

Had the Reagan administration taken a different course, we might today be reaping the benefits of unlocking the great medicinal potential of cannabinoids as well as of stem cells.

Instead, Reagan and his family, along with millions of other American families affected by Alzheimer's, have had to watch loved ones decline and know that no treatments exist that could ease that suffering.  That, too, is part of Ronald Reagan's legacy.

GARY STORCK

Madison