DOPEY DRUG POLICY

Re: Legal Haze, May 2.

Marijuana can be useful medically when other traditional
pharmaceutical approaches are insufficient. Signing the forms required
by Health Canada is a little bit time consuming, but not any different
from writing a prescription for medications. The fear doctors have
about police or medical college scrutiny for the signing of the forms
is totally unfounded.

The real problems are access and cost: Government-produced medical
marijuana has low potency. The cost is determined by the "street"
price, which includes the costs for all illegal activities required to
get the drugs on to the street. If Health Canada wants to truly help
sick people obtain relief from chronic pain, then it should provide
several strains of good-quality, low-cost pot.

Dr. David Saul, Toronto.