BEYOND THE PROPAGANDA

Kudos on your editorial supporting Detroit voters' decision to end the
persecution of chronically and critically ill Detroiters who choose to
use plant-based medicine to treat their illnesses. It is far past time
we moved beyond the government-sponsored "reefer madness" rhetoric and
re-examined our approach to the marijuana plant.

Cannabis was used as an effective, safe medicine for thousands of
years; it has only been banned for a small fraction of that time
(about 70 years).

Unfortunately, the government (both federal and state) has yet to
acknowledge what the science has demonstrated for years: that cannabis
is good medicine. The DEA still claims that cannabis has no medical
value, and that medical marijuana initiatives are a smoke screen for
legalization.

This is, of course, absurd. Fortunately for the users of medical
cannabis and compassionate citizens, the voters of Detroit were not
fooled by the propaganda heaped on us by prohibitionist forces.

Kirk Tousaw

Huntington Woods