END THIS WAR

Finally, someone throws a brick at the drug war in the Weekly. Jim
Greig writes passionately in his opinion piece "End The War At Home" (5/3).

Those who know the state of our forests understand how beneficial
hemp could be in removing the blight of harvesting trees for fiber.
Hemp produces four times the fiber of trees per acre. So, if
Oregonians are concerned about declining dollars, protecting salmon
and trout habitat and keeping our forests vibrant and productive ...
hemp is THE answer.

Medicinally, the feds have known since 1974 that cannabis has
cancer-fighting potential. It's not just a palliative but has
possible preventative and curative powers. In April, in a story
carried only by the Indianapolis Star, "findings presented ... at the
American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Los Angeles, add
to evidence that marijuana may have anti-tumor properties and its
potential should be probed further, researchers said."

Anyone who has family affected by cancer should be outraged that the
federal government has been blocking critical cancer research with
cannabis and lying about it being useful as medicine.

The Iraq War may suck, but the drug war really is THE war, our
longest war, a war demonstrably built on nothing but fabrications and
lies, a war waged on all of us. And worst of all - a war on patients.

Allan Erickson

Drug Policy Forum of Oregon, Eugene