DRUGS AIN'T AS BAD AS YOU THINK

To The Editor,

There are lots of reasons to use drugs! Increased creativity,
spiritual expansion not least of them.

Recent science out of Germany even shows how cannabinoids (the active
ingredients in marijuana) stimulate the body's production of TIMP-1, a
substance which helps healthy cells resist cancer invasion.

This might explain why chronic pot smokers have lower, not higher,
rates of cancer than tobacco smokers (as a recent California study
showed).

There is also a misconception in our society that suggests that only
drug-abstinence is to be encouraged and admired.

Telling kids to never use certain drugs is like telling them to never
see a certain genre of movie, never go to an amusement park or exotic
country, never alleviate their suffering, or never do anything at all
that may be both risky and fun. It teaches them to be afraid of new
things, instead of curious, and as history has shown, fortune favours
the adventurous.

Sensible, moderate, well-informed drug use is no more harmful,
dangerous, or immoral than any one of dozens of other activities
humans participate in every day.

Russell Barth

Federal Medical Marijuana

License Holder