SCARE TACTICS ADDS UP TO MISGUIDED SCIENCE

Editor:

Re: Mental illness another reason to ban
marijuana, Feedback, the Observer, April 8.

Once again Chris Kempling is venturing into unknown waters with his
assumptive, and quite frankly ignorant assertion that, "Young people
need to realize today's pot can make you crazy -- permanently."

Kempling's reference to Britain's The Independent and their groveling
apologetics and retractions for once advocating the legalization of
cannabis is nothing but another case of misleading, false, and above
all else, bad science.

Like all statistics they can be streamlined, cherry-picked and twisted
askew in order to propound and support any type of nonsense and in the
case of the Independent's data this is precisely what occurred.

The whole ballyhoo about today's cannabis being up to 25 per cent
stronger and therefore somehow dangerous is simply more fear-mongering
on the part of those vested corporate interests who would rather have
young people smoke (cigarettes) and drink than toke (pot) and think.

Levels of THC in cannabis (the active ingredient that gets you stoned)
have always been either high or low depending upon the conditions
under which the plant was grown and those conditions haven't changed
for literally thousands of years.

Thanks to the fascist, draconian drug laws that prevail in western
countries pot growers have been forced to cultivate their herbal
products indoors under artificial lights and due to that factor the
potency of the plant has been brought up to traditional levels
normally occurring where climate and soil conditions being optimum,
THC levels are always in the higher range.

As for the schizophrenia, paranoia and psychosis alluded to in certain
"scientific" studies those are symptoms of minds that have been
nurtured on bigotry, lies and hypocrisy and all bearing the tell-tale
marks of today's screwed up social, cultural, political, economic and
educational system.

I was smoking high-test (potent) cannabis in the Cariboo back in 1969
which is close to 40 years ago when most of the pot in B.C. was still
coming up from Mexico and was very low grade so I find Kempling's
claptrap about today's cannabis being dangerous nothing more than
misguided scare tactics.

The solution to the high potency nature of today's pot is no more
complicated that it is for alcohol. If you're drinking over-proof rum
or homemade spirits that have a high alcohol content you simply drink
less to get the desired high. The same simple remedy works for
cannabis and is also cost-effective.

Smoke less and get to your destination for half the
cost.

ARTHUR TOPHAM

Cottonwood