Pubdate: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 Date: 08/14/1998 Source: The Sudbury Star (Canada) Author: Redford Givens Website: http://sudbury.siteseer.ca/index.htm Dear Editor: Health Minister Allan Rock has wed himself to Reefer Madness lies and to hell with the science and medical evidence that marijuana is an effective medication. The only reason anybody questions the medical utility of marijuana is because of a 70-year blizzard of deception, dissembling and propaganda from crooked government officials. Or is Rock so ignorant that he doesn't know that marijuana was a valid prescription medication in the United States until 1969. Obviously, Rock has not kept up with the dozens of peer reviewed studies in the last 15 years proving the efficacy of cannabis for everything from asthma relief to preventing lethal nausea from chemotherapy. Canada cannot afford to have a person such as Rock, who substitutes Reefer Madness fiction for medical knowledge regulating the health matters of the entire nation. Redford Givens San Francisco