A CRITICAL NEED FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the Editor:

In "Crackpot Legislation," Henry I. Miller proposes unrealistic
dangers in the use of medical marijuana. He worries about "fungi,
bacteria, pesticides, heavy metals and other substances."

If citizens grow their own marijuana in limited quantities, these
risks are eliminated.

He also worries about quality control: if people grow their own, they
quickly learn what to expect from their domestic product.

While he acknowledges that marijuana may have some medicinal purposes,
he would have patients wait for F.D.A.-approved clinical trials of
Sativex, a liquid marijuana derivative.

If Sativex is approved, as it has been in Canada, it will still have a
major drawback: it will be expensive.

Marijuana, if legal, costs almost nothing to grow. Obviously the drug
companies will prefer Sativex.

In 1944, after careful scientific study, a commission appointed by New
York City's mayor, Fiorello H. La Guardia, concluded that marijuana
posed few, if any, risks. Local and state governments continue to
provide a more realistic view than the hysteria that has often come
from the federal government.

Arthur Hohmuth, Princeton, N.J.

The writer is a professor of psychology at the College of New Jersey.