QUESTIONS FROM OTHER SIDE OF MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ISSUE

So, former drug czar Lee Dogoloff says cannabis has no
medical value: "I have always maintained that drug policy in this
country should follow science" (Letters, March 23).

He believes science shows no pharmacological efficacy for cannabis.
Why then does Sativex, a whole cannabis extract, exist as the only
approved prescription medicine for treating peripheral neuropathy of
multiple sclerosis patients in Canada? Why does the U.S. supply tins
of 300 prerolled cannabis cigarettes -- grown at the University of
Mississippi -- once a month, as medicine, to the five remaining
patients enrolled in the federal Compassionate Investigative New Drug
program? Marijuana provided, evidently, during Mr. Dogoloff's tenure?

Allan Erickson

Drug Policy Forum of Oregon

Eugene, Ore.