A MOVING TALE

My deepest sympathy goes out to Mr. Stan White for his loss of a son to
cancer. (A Father's Tale, Dec 3). Thank you to the editor of the Cleveland
Free Times for sharing the story with your readers.

Marinol is synthetic THC in a capsule with vegetable oil. THC is difficult
to digest in that form and, even if it were in a more easily digestible
form (such as heated in oil to free the active compounds), it still takes
too long to digest to be effective for someone who is violently ill at the
time. Smokeable THC is the only way around vomiting.

Marinol is an extremely expensive pill ($25-40 per day) and is often
unavailable to many pharmacies due to excessive DEA regulation. Black
market marijuana is not only more effective than Marinol it is cheaper and
easier to obtain. The FDA approved Delta-9-THC, the active and most
demonized ingredient in marijuana, as Marinol in 1986. It is so safe that
the DEA down scheduled Marinol in 1999. Essentially the FDA and DEA is
saying marijuana has medical value and is safe. Yet 2,000 are arrested
every day for using marijuana.

Larry Seguin,

Lisbon, New York