HEMP'S ROLE AS MEDICINE

After the Feb. 2 John R. Starr column on legalizing medicinal marijuana,
I felt obliged to point the reading public to a book called "Ain't Nobody's
Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country"
by Peter McWilliams.

Until 1937, hemp cultivation was not only acceptable, but
encouraged.

In Colonial times, one could be fined for failing to grow the proper
amount of it.

Albeit most of this was for use in rope and textiles, but it still
played an important role in medicine. No less a personage than Queen
Victoria had it prescribed to her.

In addition to analgesic and euphoric properties, cannabis can also
help combat the lack of appetite (wasting) that afflicts AIDS patients
and leaves them open to opportunistic germs.