MESSAGE FOR 'DR.' FLOWERS

OP-ED WRITER Christine M. Flowers ("Court wrote right proscription," June
14, on medical marijuana) is a lawyer.

As an M.S. sufferer, medical cannabis patient and activist, I can't tell
you the last time I called a lawyer for medical advice. Eleven states
overwhelmingly passed laws to support the clinical, anecdotal and real
research being done around the world that supports the use of medical
marijuana.

Yes, as with anything that changes your consciousness, there are risks, but
anyone with a grain of common sense can look at all the drugs out there,
starting with alcohol and tobacco, and see they all are more harmful than
cannabis.

And, Chris, as much as you may think being a lawyer makes you an authority
on the "gateway theory" and its relationship to cannabis, I think I'd
rather take the word of the RAND study group that was the first of many a
few years ago to rebuke the idea that smoking cannabis alone led one to do
harder drugs.

And no overdoses either, and that's with millions of daily smokers, and
recorded smoking by one culture or another for 4,000 years. And out of the
millions who take asprin everyday, 6,000-7,000 of them are going to die
this year. Maybe a family member, your best pal, the guy who drives your bus.

Sad but true, but, never in recorded history has there been a death caused
by cannabis. You'd think that when it came to medicines or recreational
drugs, we would want to have one available that we knew could relieve pain
and spasms, nausea and wasting, with a host of potential medical benefits,
without the fear of being arrested, losing all your assets, or going to jail?

If I had kids, teens in the "experimental years," I'd sure as hell want one
available that I knew couldn't kill them, that's just common sense. So,
Chris, stop spreading only the fears, read all the studies, talk to the
sick and dying and to those who experience healing from using cannabis, and
then - pay attention.

Mark Tucci

Manchester, Vt.