POT AND GLAUCOMA

One argument used this year in the successful campaign to legalize the
medical use of marijuana held that Measure 67 would encourge scientists to
scrutinize the effects of pot on the human body. Presumably, such studies
would back up abundant anecdotal evidence that pot-- but only in its
natural, smokeable form-- is a miricale drug, effective in treating a
number of disorders from chronic pain to nausea and glaucoma.

Ultimately, supporters hoped, such incontrivertible evidence would force
the federal government to see the error of its prohibitionist ways and
allow doctors to prescribe pot as they now prescribe pills.

Well the results of one such study are in, and they appear in the issue of
the American Medical Association journal Archives of Ophtalmology published
last week. According to the studies author, Keith Green at the Medical
College of Georgia, it is a " fallacy that marijuana is of any value at all
in the treatment of glaucoma." Green discovered you'd have to smoke 12
joints a day to derive any medical benefit from them.

We can only imagine how happy Measure 67's backers are that the election
occured almost two weeks ago.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson