RX FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Ottawa -- It is more than a little disingenuous to boast that Canada is the
first country in the world to allow access to marijuana for medical
purposes (Marijuana Regulation Draws Fire -- July 31). Innovators we are
not. Several U.S. states, with a collective population much larger than
Canada's, have either passed laws permitting medical access, or have seen
voter referendums compel medical access. Several countries in Europe have
decriminalized or legalized cannabis possession -- for any purpose. The
Netherlands was the first to do so, in 1976. This was 25 years before our
timid Canadian step of giving access to those who survive long enough to
cross the sea of red tape that the new medical marijuana regulations impose.