RECORD SHOWS MARIJUANA SAFER DRUG THAN ASPIRIN

The letter-writer who thinks it is irresponsible to say that marijuana is a
safer drug than aspirin (Let's not compare aspirin with drug like
marijuana, July 26) is wrong. Let's do a quick comparison:

Aspirin: Used in medicine for over 100 years.

Marijuana: 5,000 years of documented use in medicine.

Aspirin: Can cause peptic ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding and other
life-threatening side effects. Causes fatal overdoses every year (in 2001,
according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, 82
poisoning deaths were caused by either aspirin or acetaminophen - the
active ingredient in Tylenol - with no other substances involved).

Marijuana: No fatal overdose has ever been recorded in the medical literature.

In 1988, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrative Law Judge Francis
Young, after a thorough examination of the evidence, found marijuana to be
"one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." More
recently, the esteemed medical journal The Lancet declared, "Moderate
indulgence in cannabis has little ill-effect on health."

True, marijuana can cause intoxication or drowsiness, and so must be used
with caution and care. But the same can be said of literally thousands of
prescription and over-the-counter drugs used by hundreds of millions of
people every day.

Bruce Mirken