THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON PROPAGANDA

Anyone that claims marijuana has no medical properties is lying
("Also, hemp pants are dumb," letters, May 5). The letter omits the
facts that the active, nontoxic ingredients in marijuana have indeed
been shown to effectively ameliorate pain, reduce nausea and combat
stress with reasonable side effects. In fact, it has been repeatedly
demonstrated that cannabinoids are capable of reducing cancerous
tumors via a process known as angiogenesis.

Also:
Many decades before today's war on 83 million of our own citizens,
pharmaceutical manufacturers Parke-Davis and Eli Lilly were cultivating
"home-grown cannabis" and selling the "flowering tops" of the plant for use
in the treatment of illnesses such as anorexia, chronic pain, spasticity,
and nausea.

During Prohibition, newspapers printed complaints of children coming
to school drunk. Restraint of trade and war waged against Americans
are illegal; the former increases prices of inferior alternatives, and
the latter is treason.

Drug war IS crime. Any questions?

JOSE MELENDEZ

Deland, FL