ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Calvin Trent of the Partnership for a Drug-Free Detroit appears to be
deeply confused about medical marijuana ("Pot, Pain and Politics,"
Metro Times, April 7). He says his reason for opposing the medical
marijuana initiative is that "we're against smoking," but surely an
expert on drug abuse knows that marijuana need not be smoked to be
used as medicine. Simple devices called vaporizers give patients the
fast action and dose control they need (and which are major advantages
of smoking as opposed to oral ingestion of either marijuana or
Marinol) while eliminating nearly all of the irritants in the smoke.

As for Trent's worry about "massive abuse," it simply hasn't happened
in the eight states with medical marijuana laws. Indeed, a 2002 report
by the General Accounting Office - the investigative arm of Congress
- - found that the majority of 37 police agencies interviewed reported
that the medical marijuana laws had little or no impact on their law
enforcement activities.

An honest look at the facts shows that there is no reason to oppose
this simple, humane initiative.

Bruce Mirken, Director of Communications, Marijuana Policy Project,
Washington, D.C.