Pub LTE: The grass is always greener

Source: Irish Examiner

Section: Opinion

Pub date: 5 September, 2000

Pub LTE: The grass is always greener

Author: Alun Buffry, Legalise Cannabis Alliance

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER

JOSEPH O'CALLAGHAN JNR'S claims that smoking cannabis results in fewer cancer fighters in the spleen (Letters, Irish Examiner, August 25) is in direct contradiction to scientific study.

Data presented in Marijuana Use and Mortality (American Journal of Public Health, April, 1997) shows that cannabis smokers are less likely to develop cancer than non smokers. In his $2m study for the US National Toxicology Program, John Bucher reports: "The main ingredient in marijuana, THC, does not cause cancer. It may even protect against malignancies."

Given the safety record of cannabis to date, it seems the real crime is not the cultivation or possession of cannabis but the prevention of access to a natural and beneficial medicinal plant.

Alun Buffry

Legalise Cannabis Alliance,

PO Box 198,

Norwich, NR2 2DE.