SERIOUSLY ILL CAN'T STOMACH POLITICS

I loved Brian Peterson's "Wishy-washy McLellan sets back medical marijuana
cause" column (Aug. 29-Sept. 4 issue). Seriously ill patients who say
marijuana is good medicine for them have wanted the testing that would
prove them right for many years. Such testing has not been allowed.

Politicians who say that medical marijuana is a hoax have curiously never
called for clinical testing that would prove that marijuana is not as
effective as medicine. Why would they spend decades saying marijuana is not
effective medicine when they could have called for clinical testing that
would prove their point? Logic would say that they know they would end up
proving the patients' claims instead.

This should be settled once and for all by doing the tests that would prove
or disprove marijuana's medical efficacy. Dying citizens deserve no less,
whether people are afraid of the truth about medical marijuana or not. The
fact that it has gone on this long should be considered a national
embarrassment.

Andrea Nagy
Mendocino, CA