LET'S GET HIGH ON RELIEVING PAIN

No matter how feverishly the pharmaceutical industry works to eradicate the
intolerable side effect of euphoria from marijuana derivatives, it's
difficult to get excited ("Researchers Aim to Develop Marijuana Without the
High," page one, Feb. 28). The cynicism on display by the pharmaceutical
companies is outrageous, especially considering that many of them
contribute funds to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which creates
anti-marijuana ads. Marijuana is bad, I guess, unless its inherent
unprofitability is removed by way of a patented process.

All drugs have potential side effects. Are we waiting to use chemotherapy
until the discomfort it can cause is eliminated? Why is vomiting and a
generally bad feeling acceptable, but a mild high is not? If the
pharmaceutical companies think there's a market for cannabis without the
high, then they ought to pursue it. But why are people who can benefit from
marijuana right now denied?

Stephen Young, Roselle, Ill.

The pharmaceutical companies are going to make those who need help wait.
How long will all this take? Why not let us have our medicine the way it
is. It has saved many lives already.

Yes, it gets you high using it the natural way. But if you look at the
alternative medications used, don't most of them give an altered state of
mind? At least smoking a joint for pain doesn't knock a person out like
some of those pain medications do. The side effect or euphoria from
marijuana derivatives is better than the side effects of what must be taken
now.

Linda Boyette, Eidson, Tenn.

The most important thing about your article was the very telling idea that
so many people agree that the "best feature" of synthetically produced
cannabinoid analogs is that, by intention, there is "no high."

Amid all the hysteria surrounding cannabis and the no-longer-avoidable
realization that it constitutes effective medication for a variety of human
ills, this remains the core issue, which has always motivated
prohibitionists: They object to the fact that some people like to ingest
various things just for enjoyment.

Only a society suffused with this latter-day Puritan antipathy to other
people's enjoyment of life would even consider spending millions or
billions of dollars on research and development to remove the
pleasure-giving properties of any drug before deigning to let sick and
dying patients have access to it. I have no good wishes for these
pharmaceutical companies, and will continue to work for total repeal of
cannabis prohibition.

Patrick L. Lilly, Colorado Springs, Colo.