THE TRUTH ABOUT POT IS SHUNNED IN U.S.

Thanks to the Star and Andrew Weil for his June 5 Guest Opinion opinion on
medicinal marijuana, "We must stop the war on medical marijuana."

Weil concisely stated what seems obvious to so many. Yet I fear the truth
will continue to be shunned in a country that is blindly fighting an
unwinnable "war on drugs."

The demonization of marijuana is the cornerstone of the federal
government's policies on drug control.

As long as it is viewed as the "gateway drug," or the drug that inevitably
leads users to a life of addiction and crime, very little is likely to change.

The federal government's policy toward marijuana is caught in a legislative
Catch-22 from which, I fear, it may never recover.

The Controlled Substances Act and its approach to marijuana is based on
scant, recent empirical research.

Yet, the act itself (and its "conclusions" about marijuana) is the
legislative hurdle that prevents federal funding from supporting research
into marijuana's potential benefits.

Dan McMahon