As a sufferer of epilepsy who has used cannabis to prevent seizures
for almost 20 years, I want to thank The Prince George's Journal for
printing Vaishali Honawar's fine article, ``Some doctors and patients
swear by marijuana."

Most epilepsy patients that I encounter have no idea that a safe,
effective alternative exists to the dangerous and debilitating
medications they have been prescribed by their doctors. Because
seizures are so terrible, so dangerous and unpredictable, doctors have
taken drastic measures to abate them.

Patients are typically prescribed Phenobarbital or Dilantin, dangerous
narcotics that over the years will rob many users of their livers and
other vital organs. This pushes hard on the physicians' Hippocratic
oath of ``First, do no harm."

Cannabis, on the other hand, is comprised of antioxidants, ``more
powerful than vitamin C or vitamin E," according to the National
Academy of Sciences. That would explain why no deaths or disease have
ever been blamed on smoking or ingesting cannabis.

Antioxidants are the key to preventing free radical cell damage, which
is blamed for all sorts of disease and mortality.

Just as cannabis heals our bodies, ending prohibition will heal our
society.

LARRY A. STEVENS
Springfield, Ill.