DEAN ON POT & GUNS

It is disturbing to watch presidential candidate Howard Dean spout
doublespeak on medical marijuana. In David Corn's "Meet The Nation" [March
31], Dean says, "I hate the idea of legislators and politicians practicing
medicine," adding that he would press the FDA to study marijuana. The eight
existing state medical-marijuana laws (like the proposal Dean killed in
Vermont last year) simply say that under state law, people with AIDS,
cancer or other serious illnesses won't face arrest and jail for using
marijuana for medical purposes with their doctor's recommendation. It has
been FDA policy since the mid-1980s that Americans have the right to go
overseas, purchase drugs not approved for sale here and bring them back for
their personal use. Many of these drugs are far more toxic than marijuana,
a medicinal herb that has never produced a fatal overdose in 5,000 years of
use.

Bruce Mirken Marijuana Policy Project Washington, D.C.