DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR

Re: To ease pain, he risks prison. April 22

I sympathize with John Haring, not just because he experiences chronic
pain but also because he apparently battles depression. Marijuana has
been shown to exacerbate depression and, while providing intoxicating
effects that cause one to temporarily "feel good," it is certainly not
a medicine. Although some components of marijuana have indeed shown
medicinal benefit, the scientific research just isn't there for smoked
marijuana to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Smoking
is an extremely unsafe delivery system.

Many states that have bypassed the scientific process and legalized
marijuana under the guise of medicine are now experiencing the
devastating impact of the consequences.

For instance, recent reports from the Colorado Marijuana Registry
Program show an increase from 8,900 registered "patients" last June,
to an estimated 63,000 as of February 2010, with 1,000 applications
arriving each day. As of December 2009 the program reported that 15
doctors were responsible for 73 percent of all recommendations and
that 91 percent of those recommendations were for "pain" while only 4
percent combined for the more serious conditions of cancer and
HIV/AIDS. Along with this has come an increase in marijuana grow
houses and other law enforcement issues.

Should Florida risk this abomination to save Haring from a prison
sentence? Or should Haring go to prison for his illegal drug use and
grow operation? Haring has been caught with more than 141 plants which
can produce anywhere from 135,360 to 1,353,600 joints, a dubious
ration of pot for one person. As a drug policy and prevention expert,
I would question whether Haring's crimes were medicinally motivated.

Calvina Fay, executive director, Drug Free America Foundation Inc.,
St. Petersburg