Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 Source: Dispatch, The (NC) Copyright: 2002, The Lexington Dispatch Contact: http://www.the-dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1583 Author: Stan White Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n074/a09.html DON'T PROHIBIT CANNABIS Editor: Lamar Moore's Jan. 15 column assertion that the drug war must continue, for its economic implications, misses the boat! America spent nearly a trillion dollars in its planetary war on some plants and drugs, with hardly anything to show for it. Prohibitionists refer to cannabis as a drug and include the wrath of the devil to those who accept it. This sends a confusing message to youth that cannabis is evil, which couldn't be further from the truth. The Truth of Christ God is explicit: As a Christian, it is a sin to cage sick humans for using cannabis. Thank Christ God for cannabis. Accept cannabis (also known as kaneh bosm, before the King James Version) for what it is as described on the very first page (Gen. 1:11-12 & 29-30). It was discomforting witnessing my 16-year-old dying with cancer, allowed to self-induce morphine every six minutes for pain, denied cannabis use. What would Jesus do? He chose to break the law in order to heal the sick. Cannabis has an awesome safety record. In fact, in 1989, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young concluded not only that marijuana's medical usefulness had been adequately demonstrated, but that the plant had been shown to be "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." The crime of the century has to be the prohibition of hemp and cannabis. American politicians should stop spending other people's money to cage humans for accepting cannabis. Stan White Dillon, Colo. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth