TIM RICHARDSON -> BOB ACKLEY wrote:
 TR> On 03-03-09, BOB ACKLEY said to MIMI GALLANDT:


 BA>> Replying to a message of Mimi Gallandt to All:


 MG>> The DOJ has announced that they will no longer be making raids on
 MG>> medical marijuana farms in states (like CA) that voters have voted to
 MG>> accept marijuana as a viable medicine in certain diseases.. I wonder
 MG>> what you guys think about that.


 BA>> It's a step in the right direction.  Now if we can get DEA shut down and
 BA>> all the thugs that work there into the unemployment line the country
 TR> will
 BA>> be far better off.


 TR> I want to make a couple of comments here.


 TR> First of all........marajuana is no more harmful than alcohol. Probably
 TR> less
 TR> so, actually.


 TR> Alcohol doesn't just make people die at an early age of various things
 TR> because of what alcohol can do to some of the vital organs It also kills
 TR> innocent people; Mary Jo Kopeckni is probably the Poster Child of the
 TR> peripheral effects of alcohol on innocent people. Or at least she would
 TR> have
 TR> been had I been a politician in Ted Kennedy's state.


 TR> Where alcohol will kill you for a variety of reasons if you over-use it,
 TR> the
 TR> same cannot be said of marajuana. Not that a person cannot be `under the
 TR> influence' if they are driving while high on pot. But pot is far less
 TR> physically harmful to the body than alcohol.


 TR> The fact is........neither any actual independent medical science group, or
 TR> any independent research group not connected in some way with
 TR> government, can
 TR> show any single case where marajuana was the *direct* cause of a human
 TR> death.
Very good point, as were your points about  who uses and taxing it. As for
the possibility of marijuana's lethality many, many legal with prescription
drugs are lethal when not used as directed. An example? Just one of many;
MAOI are good for people who suffer many mental illnesses, but deadly when
taken incorrectly or with other drugs:

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are a class of powerful antidepressant
drugs prescribed for the treatment of depression. They are particularly
effective in treating *atypical depression*, and have also shown efficacy
in smoking cessation.

Due to potentially lethal dietary and drug interactions, MAOIs had been
reserved as a last line of defense, used only when other classes of
antidepressant drugs (for example selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
and tricyclic antidepressants) have been tried unsuccessfully. Recently,
however, a patch form of the drug selegiline, called Emsam, was developed.
It was approved for use by the FDA on February 28, 2006.[1] When applied
transdermally the drug does not enter the gastro-intestinal system as it
does when taken orally, thereby decreasing the dangers of dietary
interactions associated with MAOI pills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitors

Emphasis mine.

-- 
L'Chaim,
Mimi

fcpnmimi(at)cox.net

http://www.myspace.com/fcpnmimi

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