POT IS A LOW-COST MEDICINE THAT CAN HELP SICK PEOPLE

This letter is in response to the recent letter to the editor letter
titled "Smoking pot makes no sense" by Dr John Krisinger.

While I respect any person who has taken years of schooling to become
a doctor I am shocked at the ignorance a person in the medical field
can have when it comes to the usage of the plant that has been used as
a medicine since the beginning of humanity.

It is true that marijuana can be hazardous to ones heath due to the
plant matter that is smoked. However, the doctor left out the fact
that marijuana does not have to be consumed via smoking. The active
ingredient that is a pain reliever and multi-purpose medicine is THC
or tetrahydrocannabinol.

It is possible for THC to be consumed orally though bonding it with
fat, can be consumed via vaporization (meaning only the THC is
vaporized and the plant material does not combust) or taken as a
suppository or absorbed directly though the skin. What the doctor also
may not know is that there is a way to separate the THC from the plant
matter and the result is commonly known as hashish or simply THC.

This can be done with water, ice and silk screens or simply by shaking
the buds of the plant to make the THC fall off as well as other methods.

Dr. Krisinger also boasts that the synthetic pharmaceuticals are
superior to the herb itself. Apparently medical marijuana users across
North America disagree with Dr Krisinger on this and the users of
medical marijuana choose to take the all natural plant rather than a
synthetic that was produced in a laboratory by a faceless corporation
because natural marijuana just works better.

I do hope the doctor realizes that marijuana can be grown for next to
nothing whereas a prescription to maronol or sativex can cost quite a
bit of money.

Would it not make more sense for the patient to grow their own
medicine for free rather than support an international corporation by
buying a synthetic pharmaceutical drug?

Perhaps the doctor also is unaware of the well known medicinal uses of
marijuana on those who have asthma. I suggest that he take a look at
the literature in some of the medical databases he has access to for
more information on smoking THC by those who have asthma.

Also curious is the comparison of marijuana to fast food and tobacco,
both of which have no known medical usage to my knowledge. As far as I
understand, marijuana is not physically addictive and only mentally
addictive whereas other commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals such as
opiates, benzos (such as valium) and SSRI drugs are physically and
mentally addictive. This is hypocritical and misleading to say that
marijuana has no known medical usage and is addictive while drugs like
Paxil are physically addictive.

In the doctor's final paragraph he states "One wonders what politics
is behind the non-scientific sort of debate on this issue that seams
to go on and on."

If the doctor truly believes that there is no science behind the fact
that marijuana has no medical properties then he simply has not looked
very hard, if at all.

Many doctors disagree with Dr. Krisinger's statements and the proof is
that they are indeed prescribing marijuana to the sick.

There have been so many studies that have shown that marijuana can be
a beneficial medicine that I cannot even attempt to list them in this
letter.

It is also well worth noting that there are no recorded overdose
deaths in the history of human-kind from cannabis but the same cannot
be said about aspirin.

If he wants to know that the politics is involved then I can sum it up
fairly quickly. The answer is profit. Marijuana is a free medicine and
the pharmaceutical companies make zero dollars off of prescribing
marijuana because it can be grown by the user for free.

The push for synthetic replacements for marijuana is simply to make a
dollar off of what could be free medicine for the ill.

Sheldon James Davidson,
Terrace, B.C.