"REEFER MADNESS" RETURNS

Dear Editor: In the last week two "studies" on the effects of
marijuana use have been spreading like some sort of aggressive
disease. This happens every year or so and it seems to always be the
same two studies.

The first one proposes the idea that smoking even one joint could
raise your risk of developing schizophrenia later in life by an
astronomical 40 percent.

However, if one takes the time to look at actual rates of
schizophrenia among the entire world population they will see that the
rate has always been around 1 percent with no real fluctuation. If the
schizophrenia claim were actually true then we would have seen a huge
jump in the number of people diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The second one claims a link between marijuana and lung cancer. It
states that one joint is as bad as five cigarettes.

However, a gentleman by the name of Dr. Donald Tashkin, who for many
years worked in cahoots with the DEA to try and prove this theory,
recently released a study that shows smoking marijuana does not cause
lung cancer and may even have some preventative effects.

This kind of fear mongering about marijuana is true "Reefer
Madness."

Loretta Nall

Alexander City