WEEDING OUT BAD INFORMATION

Concerning the letter to the editor "Marijuana and you," Dec. 21. Could I
point out a couple of errors in Mr. Chas Luters' claims?

First, Smoking Risks

The study he quotes (the Berkeley carcinogenic tar studies of the late
1970s) used the leaves of tobacco and cannabis, but as everyone who wishes
to discuss this problem should know it is not the leaves of cannabis that
are smoked but the flowers or "bud."

These can be shown to contain one-third less tar than tobacco. There has
never been a single case of cancer attributed to cannabis.

Mental Health Risks

Concerning the health-care risks -- every single "health-care risk" is
reversible on cessation of use, unlike the health risks of other legal
drugs. He says "ask any mental-health care professional." I take it he did
not bother!

I quote Colin Blakemore, a professor of physiology at Oxford University:
"if cannabis really was causing schizophrenia and other mental illnesses,
why had the incidence of these illnesses not risen as dramatically as
cannabis use over the past 50 years?

"I don't know of any evidence that the incidence of schizophrenia has
changed a jot in the past 100 years, or ever."

Other Risks

As for the "decreased sperm count, etc.," well, really, Mr. Luter should
have checked first -- all the claims he makes were refuted years ago on
peer review.

If one wants to find unbiased trustworthy information about drugs, the
Wellcome Trust has put a very useful resource on the United Kingdom's
government's Drugscope Website.

See the media briefing at:

http://www.drugscope.org.uk/DS%20Media%20Project/mediaintro.htm

Philip Slattery

Bannockburn

Scotland