Letter writer Gary Hines (Aug. 25) asks where I am coming from, so I
will attempt to answer him. I am coming from a decade of severe pain,
disability, and a blood disorder that can kill me, and the drug I am
taking to counter it can also be fatal, as it thins the blood. Thin it
too much, and your blood will seep through the vein walls, causing
internal bleeding.

I am also coming from a strong medical background, both from family,
and from personal experience. I have made it a point all of my life to
understand the advantages and disadvantages of each and every drug my
body has been exposed to, seeing as I am the one who suffers if
something goes wrong.

Perhaps Mr. Hines should do some actual research on the medicinal
properties of cannabis before declaring his lack of knowledge in the
manner he is doing. I know I did my homework before I started using it
medicinally, as has my doctor.

And Mr. Hines might also read what I said ... I never claimed little
or no damage comes from its use; I pointed out that it is less
addictive, disruptive, and destructive than the drugs I am being
prescribed. And that has been proven already by the medical community.

And as to his arguments about impairment, it will likely surprise him
that I agree with the statement, " ... impairment is impairment,
regardless of the cause." Mind you, that means anyone taking
anti-depressants, muscle relaxants, tranquillizers, pain medication,
and even anti-histamines is also impaired, yet I see nothing about the
great amount of accidents caused by people impaired on these
medications and the terrible risks of having these drugs available to
be used for treatment. And there is absolutely no basis in fact that
if cannabis is decriminalized the risk of impaired drivers doubles.

When you consider it is estimated that three million people in this
country are users of cannabis, yet there are few accidents caused by
cannabis impairing the driver, this tends to severely undermine Mr.
Hines's premise.

I truly wish people would stop having knee-jerk reactions about this
issue, and would start spending some real time and resources learning
more about one of the most versatile plants on the planet. It has many
industrial uses, medicinal uses, and is a very easily renewable
resource, and very low cost. It has been in our societies for 8,000
years; its uses predate the invention of the still. I would think that
with such a long and documented history we would know if it were truly
as dangerous as those opposing decriminalization make it out to be.

David Charles Macdonald
Beaver Bank, N.S.