BROWNIES ANYONE?

Victoria -- That Health Canada neglected to suggest alternatives forms of
ingestion to smoking in their new cannabis manual is inexcusable (Health
Canada Readies Release Of Dope Manual -- July 21).

The B.C. Compassion Club Society and the Vancouver Island Compassion
Society gave a joint (no pun intended) presentation to Health Canada's
advisory committee last May. Club representatives explained the pros and
cons of baked goods and tinctures and demonstrated the use of a vaporizer,
a smokeless inhalation device.

That medical associations claim ignorance is equally inexcusable. The
research dossier on cannabis is more robust than that of many long-used
drugs, including aspirin, acetaminophen, digitalis, codeine, morphine,
penicillin, thyroxine, and vitamin B12. Cannabis has been safely used
around the world for millennia. Cultures have cooked with it for
generations. A pill containing the most active ingredient, THC, has been
legally prescribed for more than a decade.

Teens consistently report that cannabis is easier to obtain than beer. The
Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission recently reported that
high-school seniors are almost twice as likely to try cannabis as
cigarettes. Surely doctors should already be familiar with the side
effects, contra-indications and drug interactions, regardless of Health
Canada's court-ordered effort to facilitate medicinal use.