POT PERSPECTIVES

Toronto -- If William Johnson (Reefer Madness Redux -- Aug. 4) and The
Globe's editorial board (Marijuana As Medicine -- Aug. 4) had read an
article by health reporter Krista Foss in February (No Pot Luck For
Kids -- Feb. 8) they might not be such true believers in the myth of
marijuana's harmlessness.

Basing her article on the latest scientific evidence, Ms. Foss tells
us that the hydroponic dope of today is about five times stronger than
the stuff Mr. Johnson inhaled in the 1960s. The result is that
marijuana is no longer a "soft" drug. To quote the article, today's
young pot smoker risks "damaging his intellectual ability, wrecking
his lungs and increasing his risk of cancer, in addition to developing
a serious dependency."

Psychologist Peter Fried, of Carleton University, who has been
studying marijuana for 20 years, says in the article that children
whose mothers smoked pot during pregnancy exhibit deficits in
problem-solving, decision-making, and impulse control by age 4.
Donald Tashkin, a lung expert at the University of California, adds
that a joint has more carcinogens and three times the tar of a
cigarette and that the immune cells in the lungs of pot smokers are
less able to fend off bacteria than those in the lungs of cigarette
smokers. And the article quotes a study done at the Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Centre showing that pot smokers have 2.6 times the risk of
contracting head and neck cancers than those who have never used the
drug.

Why are The Globe's pot advocates so eager to have this noxious
substance certified for general consumption?

Daniel Stoffman