Pubdate: Sat, 20 Aug 2011
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2011 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MARIJUANA GENOME: FIGHTING CANCER, DUDE

The announcement that a small Marblehead company has isolated the 
genome of the marijuana plant brought the predictable snickers, but 
the research seems to hold legitimate medical promise. The company, 
Medicinal Genomics, published the hundreds of millions of letters of 
DNA that make up Cannabis sativa in hopes of spurring research into 
the plant's cancer-fighting potential.

Medical marijuana is legal in 16 states - not including Massachusetts 
- - but there is still much to be learned about its possible 
therapeutic uses. Unfortunately, though, the debate seems to bring 
out the worst in everyone. Foes of drug laws have latched on to 
marijuana's medical uses, cynically exploiting them as a way to bring 
about de facto legalization. By the same token, drug warriors have 
too often simply dismissed out of hand the possibility that the 
much-vilified weed might actually be good for you sometimes.

Strip away all the drug-war combat, though, and Cannabis sativa is 
just a plant. Its health benefits - or dangers - deserve ordinary 
scientific inquiry unclouded by politics. Here's hoping that 
Medicinal Genomics can break the mold.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom