TOKE NO MORE

A B.C. Hypnotist Helps Marijuana Smokers Break Their Dangerous Addiction

For 35 years, hypnotist M. Vance Romane has used his soothing voice to help
cure people of smoking, drinking and eating addictions. At a seminar of 40
people in Winnipeg this past spring, Mr. Romane took on another nasty
habit, marijuana smoking. In attempting to help pot addicts, however, the
52-year-old White Rock, B.C., hypnotist also succeeded in stirring the pot
in the decriminalization debate.

Canada recently became the only country in the world to allow marijuana for
medical purposes, but Prime Minister Jean Chretien has no intention of
loosening the rules any further. That suits hypnotist Romane's customers.
In the mid-'80s, he started getting about 10 people per year at his "stop
smoking" seminars who wanted to quit marijuana. "Now we get 25 requests per
year and it's still growing." The pot addicts tell the hypnotist the drug
makes breathing more difficult, makes them more prone to illness, erodes
their motivation and wrecks their short-term memory. Besides holding
seminars, Mr. Romane is selling "stop-toking" CDs.

His work has shone a light on the adverse effects of marijuana use and
that, in turn, has angered legalization advocates. "I consider M. Vance
Romane nothing more than a bigot," complained John Gordon of the B.C.
Marijuana Party. "If I could afford the cost of his show, I would go and
smoke a big 'phatty' of Marc Emery's best and listen to the trippy music."

The man to whom Mr. Gordon referred is Marijuana Party president Marc Emry,
who makes so much money selling marijuana seeds over the Internet and
running a pro-pot magazine that he was able to throw $200,000 behind the
party during the recent B.C. election. He now plans to expand his
marijuana distribution network under the guise of "compassion clubs."

Despite his pro-pot propaganda, however, there is no concrete evidence pot
has any medicinal value. Moreover, smoking marijuana makes glaucoma and
symptoms of multiple sclerosis worse, not better. Studies also show that
marijuana does not help those with epilepsy, anorexia nervosa or
Parkinson's disease. As well, many studies have alleged marijuana usage
leads to harder drugs.

Furthermore, a 1971 study found young marijuana smokers suffer cerebral
atrophy, and a 1987 study noted marijuana triggers manic-depressive
psychosis and schizophrenia. A later study published in the Scientific
American said marijuana causes panic attacks, delusions and hallucinations,
paranoia, depression and "uncontrollable hostility." The latest study, in
Circulation magazine, found that middle-aged pot smokers are five times
more likely to have a heart attack in the first hour after inhaling as
non-users.

Ben Jenkins, a retired Nova Scotia RCMP officer who advises companies on
substance abuse, cannot understand why so many people support
decriminalization of the drug. "It's been proven to be dangerous," he
points out. "Why are they not holding marijuana to the same safety
standards that we have for our medicines?"