ACCEPT OPINION WITH A GRAIN OR TWO OF SALT

Re: Coping with the pain (spotlight, March 27, Sentinel-Review)

Dr. M.L.D. Fernando, chief of psychiatry at Woodstock General
Hospital, asserts he is against legalizing marijuana because it's a
slippery slope that leads to cocaine and other things.

He is, no doubt, anticipating most readers will be unaware the various
studies available from the website of the Canadian Centre on Substance
Abuse, among numerous other studies, prove conclusively that marijuana
is not a gateway drug. Dr. Fernando also asserts marijuana causes
paranoid psychosis, when the truth is that obscure meta-analyses of
statistical data suggest marijuana may trigger psychotic episodes in
pre-disposed individuals - not that it does, or even may, cause them.

We are, nevertheless, expected to believe Dr. Fernando's
unsubstantiated assertion because he is a "chief of psychiatry." Even
if it were true, it would remain to be explained why that should be
regarded as justification for prohibiting marijuana, when numerous
pharmaceutical drugs with this and more serious, side effects in some
users, continue to be available legally.

Dr. Fernando offers yet another illustration of the fact that opinions
about marijuana, expressed by those who work in occupations that
benefit from its prohibition, should be taken with a grain of salt, if
not two or three.

GEORGE KOSINSKI

Gibsons, B.C.