GOVERNMENT KNOWS MARIJUANA ASSISTS PATIENTS

In reponse to the March 6 letter in the Ocean County Observer, "Congress
must act on medical marijuana," by Stan White, the federal government knew
back in 1974 that cannabis slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer. The
article appeared in the local section of The Washington Post on Aug. 18,
1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is Studied," it read in part "the
active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth of three kinds of
cancer in mice and may also suppress the immunity reaction that causes
rejection of organ transplants, a Medical College of Virginia team has
discovered."

The researchers "found that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) slowed the growth of
lung cancers, breast cancers, and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory
mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent."

The DEA immediately shut down the Virginia study and all further
cannabis-tumor research. In 1976, President Gerald Ford put an end to all
public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major
pharmaceutical companies.

Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University,
Madrid, reported the same findings in the March 2000 issue of Nature Medicine.

Why would the government want to keep us from knowing this?

Information and all references can be found at www.jackherer.com.

LARRY SEGUIN Lisbon, N.Y.