'MARIJUANA WITHDRAWAL' NOVEL CONCEPT

The story Lithium touted to ease withdrawal from pot (SP Nov. 3) surprised me.

While I know of controversial research on rats suggesting marijuana to be
addictive, I have never met anyone who complained of marijuana withdrawal.

Who could argue if Dr. Xia Zhang's work eases anyone's pain? I, however,
prefer the Canadian Medical Association's prescription for our problems
with marijuana: decriminalization.

The CMA argues that the worst effect of marijuana is not health-related but
the criminal record if one is caught. Surely, our doctors would know if
marijuana caused worse problems than arrest and imprisonment. In the wacky
world of prohibition, doctors are not the authorities on health.

And prohibition truly is wacky. While marijuana use among teenagers is
common, prohibitionists argue that prohibition is working and that we must
maintain prohibition to protect our children!

While marijuana use is less frequent where marijuana is not prohibited,
prohibitionists argue that legalization would lead to increased use.

While a new Australian study has confirmed Canadian, U.S. and British
studies indicating no relation between marijuana and traffic accidents,
prohibitionists argue that legalization would make our roads more dangerous.

Honestly, does prohibition impair a person's ability to reason?

Fortunately, change is coming. The most recent country to begin dis
mantling prohibition is Britain, where the government plans to downgrade
marijuana to a Class C drug and to stop arresting people for possession.

Britain, too, has allowed research of medical marijuana and the preliminary
results, as reported by The Guardian, suggest that 80 per cent of those
taking part in the study have derived more benefit from cannabis than from
any other drug, with many describing marijuana's effects as "miraculous."

The time has come for change here as well. It is time to stop manufacturing
problems and dismantle the horrible machinery of prohibition.

Ken Sailor

Saskatoon