Dear Editor:

Re: Star editorial (Allan Rock's dubious response -- Aug. 10).

In this editorial, you state that Allan Rock should have told Jim
Wakeford, a medical marijuana user, that he could have access to the
drug that helps him by submitting a request under Health Canada's
Special Access Program.

However, the SAP is a dead end in regards to medical marijuana. Last
year, such a request was denied because there is no source of the drug
that any company is able to supply, because of its illegal status.

Of course, a medical marijuana user could easily grow his or her own
medicine, but the current laws would brand such a person as a
criminal, subject to a possible term of life imprisonment (the same as
murder.).

Eighty-three per cent of Canadians support legalized marijuana for
medical purposes. It appears our elected officials in the health and
justice departments are much more concerned about waging a lost war on
drugs than they are about getting medicine to the people who would
truly benefit from it. It's a pity that they waste both the court's
time and our tax dollars fighting something few of us have a problem
with.

Dave Haans
Toronto

* Dave Haans is a Sudbury native and a graduate student at the
University of Toronto.