THINK ON IT

WEEDING OUT THE MYTHS

Based on Health Canada's literature and the independent evidence
available linking marijuana smoke to acute and chronic health
problems, the following conclusions can be drawn:

* Health Canada's concurrent assertion that knowledge about the safety
of marijuana is indeterminate, and acknowledgement that marijuana is
widely considered unsafe, are contradictory.

* Health Canada's emphasis on the lack of determinate evidence about
the safety of marijuana is at best misleading, at worse unethical.

* There is reason to believe that patients enrolled in clinical trials
of smoked marijuana and patients using marijuana through (CDSA)
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption are not sufficiently
informed of the health risks involved in smoking marijuana.

* There is reason to believe that the available evidence on the health
risks associated with smoking marijuana has not been factored in
appropriately to assessments for clinical trials.

* Given the lack of substantial scientific data regarding the benefits
of specific chemical compounds in marijuana, marijuana cannot be
considered a medicine in the conventional sense.

* When considering applications for CDSA exemption, physicians cannot
in good faith testify that the benefits of treatment with marijuana
outweigh the risks.

* The health risks associated with smoking marijuana are an
appropriate reason for physicians to deny patients access to marijuana
for medical purposes.

- -Conclusions of a just released study by the Physicians for a
Smoke-Free Canada