LIGHT A SINGLE CANDLE

I AGREE with the Canadian Medical Protective Association that Health Canada
has not done enough to educate doctors about cannabis. Health Canada could
have made doctors' lives much easier in this regard by disseminating
information on appropriate indications, precautions and dosing before
implementing their regulations.

Doctors could have been advised that a major U.S. Institute of Medicine
(IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, concluded
that the risk-benefit profile of cannabis is well within that of many
commonly used pharmaceutical agents.

Doctors could have been directed to the surprisingly large number of
studies demonstrating the health benefits and safety of cannabis, more
studies than exist to support the use of many old-time medical stand-bys,
including Aspirin, penicillin, and codeine.

Cannabis has been used by a significant number of Canadians for decades and
by cultures around the world for millennia. Its use as a herbal remedy in
North America prior to its prohibition is well documented.

Shouldn't doctors already be aware of the long- and short-term side
effects? Remember the old Chinese proverb: "Better to light a single candle
than to curse the darkness."

Matthew M. Elrod

(Better to buy a flashlight than inhale candle smoke.)