MARIJUANA ARTICLE HAS FACTUAL ERRORS

Dear Editor,

I just thought I would inform you that several statements by the writer of
"Point Counterpoint: Marijuana Has Medical Benefits" were in error.

From last week's article:

"According to medical research, smoking marijuana produces more problems
than cigarette smoking; four times as much tar is deposited on the lungs
and marijuana cigarettes contain the majority of harmful chemicals found in
cigarettes."

This is false; see Robert Melamede's new study at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n1639.a04.html

From last week's article:

"Yet what people do not realize is that people under the age of 21 are the
most common users of marijuana. Since decriminalization will not legalize
marijuana for the most common users the black market will still exist."

See http://norml.org/images/state_arrests_2004/AR_Page_37.gif.

People under 21 are not the most common users of marijuana; this is just
another lie to scare the voters.

From last week's article:

"Therefore, because marijuana is not useful as a medicine but is, in fact,
harmful, because it can damage developing brains and because the loss of
motor control and spatial perception can be dangerous, marijuana should not
be decriminalized but rather remain an illegal substance."

This ignores the fact that most medical users are not adolescents; what
about the older patients? It also ignores that morphine and cocaine are
legal for medical patients in need, as are alcohol and tobacco; maybe we
should prohibit alcohol to protect the kids? We tried this before and
Prohibition caused more problems than the alcohol did. Sound familiar?
Cannabis prohibition does exactly the same thing.

David Watson

Amsterdam