MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED FOR MEDICAL, HEALING PURPOSES

In response to your article of Dec.11, "Portions of marijuana law
unconstitutional, judge rules", of course this herbal medicine should be
available for proper and responsible use.

As a long-time student and practitioner of herbal medicine and natural
healing methods, I wondered why most herbal texts do not even mention
marijuana/cannabis/hemp.

The best and most comprehensive text in my library, School of Natural
Healing, by Dr.John R.Christopher, lists it as a sleep aid, relaxant, pain
killer, antispasmodic, and female corrective. Latest evidence shows it is
effective for relieving the pain and spasms of MS, seizures of epilepsy,
migraines, ghost-pain of amputees, chronic pain of some sorts, some
depressions, premenstrual disorder, glaucoma, AIDS wasting and nausea, and
cancer nausea. Queen Victoria used it, as prescribed by her physician, for
PMS and migraines.

The British Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine
have both asked that it be made available to those who need it immediately,
and patients who have been denied it have been desperate enough to get
themselves arrested just to protest the status quo. (Lynn Harichy, mother,
grandmother, medical student, MS sufferer in London, Ont.)

No one has ever died from a pot overdose, it does not kill or harm the
cells of the body. There are many ways to use it besides smoking; a chronic
pain patient from Halifax says one mj brownie lasts longer and works better
than several tylenol 3's.

Surely it is time to adipt a rational, compassionate approach instead of
allowing pot sales to line the pockets of biker-gangs who don't care
whether they sell to a cancer patient or a child in the schoolyard.

Recent polls show the majority of Canadians favor changing the law to allow
responsible use.

Regulation would put cannabis where it belongs, in the drugstore, health
food store and herb garden, alongside the other herbs God gave us to use,
like parsley, sage, garlic and mint.

Kathy Galbraith
Midwife,teacher, student of natural healing
Raymond