USE FOR POT

Re: editorial, "However compassionate the intent, the use of marijuana is
still banned" (May 17).

You are very mistaken. Society through its legislators established the
National Academy of Sciences to advise it. The medical marijuana question
was submitted to their experts in the IOM (Institute of Medicine).
Taxpayers paid $1 million for that 1999 report.

The New York Times (March 18, 1999): "The report, the most comprehensive
analysis to date of the medical literature about marijuana, said there was
no evidence that giving the drug to sick people would increase illicit use
in the general population. Nor is marijuana a 'gateway drug' that prompts
patients to use harder drugs like cocaine and heroin, the study said." The
report itself said, "We acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for
people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking
marijuana such as pain or AIDS wasting, . . ." Other uses were cited. That
was not done due to new evidence but due to a review of existing evidence.
The legislature has chosen to ignore the science for decades and to declare
the earth is flat. Now you applaud them. Shame on you.

Jerry Epstein
President, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Houston