HEED CANNABIS SCIENCE, NOT LEGAL THREATS

While I agree with your observation ("Nasty outbursts do nothing for
marijuana cause," Dec. 14) that marijuana proponents are not always
fond of the rules of decorum, it seems inappropriate to castigate them
like unruly children. Please consider what is actually happening
here: People dealing with serious medical issues are being
systematically denied access to the medicine that best eases their
suffering. Faced with the looming likelihood of being unable to obtain
relief from that suffering and dealing with stress caused by such
knowledge, it is understandable that they find it difficult to be
polite to those hellbent on worsening their situations.

It is time to consider the overlooked components of this issue -
scientific facts. The results of several recent studies clearly show
why federal reclassification of marijuana and an end to onerous local
restrictions both make good sense.

The June 19, 2010, issue of Science News - www.sciencenews.org - ran a
five-page article on "The Promise of Medical Marijuana." Research
described in the article includes a study corroborating the
effectiveness of cannabis derivatives against the symptoms of multiple
sclerosis. Further studies will investigate the possibility that the
use of cannabis could actually slow the progression of the disease.
Another project established that post-traumatic stress disorder
patients slept better and stopped having nightmares while taking THC
in capsule form. Most amazingly, lab-dish experiments indicate that
cannabinoids decrease a cancer tumor's size and slow its growth in
cases of lung carcinoma and thyroid epithelioma. They slow cancer
proliferation in uterine and breast carcinomas, and cause programmed
cell death - they kill cancer cells but not healthy cells - for
glioma, lymphoma, leukemia, skin carcinoma, prostate carcinoma, and
neuroblastoma. Human trials of these effects are in the planning stages.

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle on Dec. 7 described a study
at UCSF that found that marijuana can be safely used in conjunction
with opiate-based pain medications and that combining the two can
allow the patient to reduce or even eliminate the use of more
dangerous narcotic. Although this story was apparently not covered in
the Record Searchlight, a letter printed the next day tells the same
story from a different perspective: A Redding man wrote about losing
his daughter, who had multiple sclerosis, to an accidental overdose of
pain medication. He explicitly states that safe access to marijuana
might have prevented the tragedy. This is the type of voice our
officials should heed, not the outdated misinformation and vague
quasi-legal threats that currently enthrall them. It is time to step
out of the Dark Ages, choose enlightenment over ignorance, and end
this present-day pogrom once and for all.