MEDICINAL CANNABIS

I WAS most interested to read your recent column regarding the medicinal
use of cannabis (May 26), in which Dr John Adams of the New Zealand Medical
Association was reported as saying "cannabis suppresses the immune system".

I suffer HIV and use cannabis to combat the debilitating side-effects of
both the disease and its treatments. I believe Dr Adams' statement to be
incorrect.

Professor Leslie Iverson, visiting Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford
University, states in his book, The Science of Marijuana, that "this
history of research (sex hormones and reproduction) followed a similar
pattern to that described for the immunosuppressant effects of
cannabinoids. An initial, apparently damning, report was followed by a
great deal of subsequent research that has largely failed to support the
initial claims".

I put this to Dr Adams for comment and his reply indicated literature
written in 1988 -- 13 years ago and in contradiction to what Professor
Iverson says only a few months ago.

I feel that the New Zealand Medical Association needs to more aggressively
promote cannabis as an alternative to conventional medicine with the
current scientific knowledge and current world trends. At the very least
they need to promote up-to-date information.

GREG SOAR
Papatoetoe