LITTLE PROFIT IN CANNABIS CURE

The answer to the question that asks whether cannabis is an illegal drug or
a medicine is, of course, that it is both of these things.

Geoff Ogden, anti-drugs co-ordinator, would have us believe that cannabis
is illegal because it's dangerous, and tries to justify the Government's
immoral stance by insisting more research is needed. This is nonsense.

Unlike many of today's synthetic alternatives, cannabis has stood the test
of time and has been used by millions for thousands of years without ever
being held responsible for a single death - despite endless
Government-sponsored research to try to prove that cannabis causes anything
from cancer to baldness.

Cannabis is not an addictive substance; it's not a gateway to hard drugs,
and health-related costs of cannabis use are negligible when compared to
those of alcohol and tobacco.

Billions of pounds are wasted each year providing ineffective medicines to
people who claim to experience more benefit from cannabis.

There are thousands suffering from cancer, Aids, multiple sclerosis, spinal
injury, epilepsy, asthma, insomnia and stress-related illnesses who admit
to needing to resort to cannabis to relieve their pain. And many of these,
bizarrely, are taken to the courts!

The truth is that herbal cannabis in natural forms would yield little
profit for pharmaceutical corporations, while eliminating in the long term
profit-driven patent drugs. Why allow people to use a safe plant for
pennies when you can sell them a pill for a pound?

Carl Wagner, Legalise Cannabis Alliance, Victoria Square, Hull.