Pubdate: Sat, 10 Aug 2013
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340
Author: Frank G. Sterle
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n376/a04.html

WHO'S DOING THE RESEARCH?

Re: "We're asking the wrong question [on marijuana criminalization]," 
letter to the editor, Friday, Aug. 2. I've travelled down the 
cannabis-consumption rocky road and learned about its effect on my 
health the extremely difficult way.

However, I must admit that research findings regarding pot's effect 
on health that "reveal" a benign or, contrarily, insidious nature of 
cannabis consumption make me instinctually wonder: Who commissioned 
the research? As cynical as it may sound, I'm one who believes that 
knowing the interests of the entity that has commissioned the 
research quite often reveal much about the research "findings" to come.

The commissioner, through the news media, will typically propagate 
terms like "independently commissioned," but such doesn't necessarily 
translate into 100 percent accuracy; questions asked and/or research 
methodology can be quite manipulative.

Frank G. Sterle, Jr.

White Rock
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom