DRUG COMPANIES ARE AFRAID OF MARIJUANA

To the Editor:

Saritha Prabhu accurately describes an overmedicated America. ("Take
parental love and call her in the morning," oped, June 6) It's ironic that
as a nation we think of ourselves as anti-drug, displaying sayings like
"just say no" on cars, shirts and TV ads.

Chances are that the ads just before or after are for pharmaceuticals. Add
the ruling from the Supreme Court upholding a ban on medical marijuana, and
we may have reached a new level of absurdity.

Prescription drugs kill about 100,000 Americans a year, and we are all
aware of the long lists of side effects the drug companies trivialize with
tiny print and fast talk.

Contrast that with marijuana, used for medicine, religious rituals, food
and fiber for rope and clothing for thousands of years without a single
death attributed directly to it. Don't be fooled when John Walters, Bush's
drug czar, states "science and research have not determined that smoking a
crude plant is safe or effective."

Our government has made it illegal to do the research, preventing
definitive information from ever surfacing. Marijuana has so many uses that
its enemies include the paper industry, the clothing industry (both natural
and synthetic), alcohol and tobacco industries, the energy industry and for
today's conversation, the pharmaceutical industry.

They must be terrified of a medicine that grows like a weed and is safer
and more effective than anything they sell. Are they acting in the best
interest of those suffering or their cash flow?

No wonder they spend so much money to influence politics - and us.

Alan Powell, Nashville 37205