MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Thank you for Doug Hoagland's insightful article on the compassionate use of
medical marijuana. Unfortunately, the article perpetuates a couple of
long-refuted myths, namely, that marijuana use destroys brain cells, and
that there is insufficient scientific medical information available at this
time to form any conclusions about the efficacy of marijuana.

According to the recently published "Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts: a
Review of the Scientific Evidence," by Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D., and John P.
Morgan, M.D., there is no scientific or medical evidence that marijuana
destroys any brain cells at all. In fact, in a rhesus monkey study conducted
by the National Center for Toxicological Research in Arkansas, the
"researchers found no marijuana-related differences in neurochem-ical
concentrations, receptor-site configurations, hippocampal architecture, cell
size, cell number or synaptic structure."

Moreover, as the book demonstrates, and as law enforcement well knows, there
is a plethora of scientific and medical evidence available to refute the
demonization of the hemp plant. Every officially sanctioned government study
conducted has concluded that marijuana poses little social threat and should
be removed from the list of hazardous controlled substances.

Woodrow E. Nichols Jr. Fresno

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst