TESTS GO BOTH WAYS

Re: Let's face it, marijuana is harmful, Feedback, the Observer, Nov.
5, Drug tests weed out abusers, Feedback, the Observer, Nov. 8.

The former writer, Todd, is clearly misinformed, as the gateway
theory has been disproven for about a decade now. In my case, medical
marijuana effectively led to me stopping taking far more harmful
prescription narcotics altogether. It is possible, but far from
proven conclusive that cannabis use is bad for the lungs. So is
breathing the air in many major cities around the globe today. Shall
we prohibit breathing, or air?

I disagree with Paul Drescher's letter. He states, "chemicals in
cannabis marijuana will remain embedded in your bodily tissues for weeks."

This poses a question for me. How does it benefit a company to know
whether someone has smoked marijuana within the last three weeks? If
they had a test that revealed cannabis usage in the previous 16
hours, then I would say the test would be justified if an accident
had taken place; however, under the current testing conditions it is
very relevant when the person was using marijuana. You simply cannot
destroy peoples' lives because they had a toke at a party sometime in
the past three weeks to a month.

Finally, what about myself? Being a legal federal medical marijuana
exemptee, should I be held accountable under this three to four weeks
prior "zero tolerance" policy? Yes, I am and the word to describe
that situation is discrimination.

Carl Anderson

Kamloops