MARIJUANA NOT AS DANGEROUS AS SMOKING TOBACCO

In a recent letter, Pete Holzmann claimed that "Marijuana is
considered as carcinogenic as unfiltered tobacco when smoked."
According to an article published earlier this year in The Washington
Post, "The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that
smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung
cancer."

According to Dr. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los
Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years, "The
new findings were against our expectations." Tashkin goes on to say,
"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between
marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more
positive with heavier use. What we found instead was no association at
all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Lest you think Tashkin to be a quack or pro-marijuana shill, according
to the Post, "Federal health and drug enforcement officials have
widely used Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that
the drug is dangerous."

Leroy Casterline

Casper, Wyo.