THE MEDICAL BENEFITS OF THE NACKY WEED

Regarding "Smokin' issue" [Dec. 2]: If federal officials are correct
in maintaining that marijuana has no medical value, then why has the
federal government been growing and distributing it to sick and dying
people? On the other hand, if marijuana is medicinal, then why are
federal authorities arresting patients, closing clinics and violating
the rights of states to resolve this issue independently?

My best friend and co-author would not be alive today without
federally grown marijuana. After enduring 19 major surgeries and being
given 17 pharmaceutical substances on a daily basis, he was close to
death. For the past 14 years, he has smoked 10 government-issued
joints a day. During this time he's had no surgeries or
hospitalizations, and he no longer takes any pharmaceutical drugs. He
is living proof that marijuana has medical value.

And yet the federal government has never commissioned or published a
study on this patient. It's as if they don't want confirmation of what
they already suspect. It's too late, though. The genie is out of the
bottle.

Christopher Largen

Co-Author of Prescription Pot

Denton, Texas