Scientists don’t know

Columnist Gordon Clark wrote that scientists tells us that marijuana does not cure diseases. Scientists do not claim that, they actually do not know. There have been nowhere near enough studies done to make any confident claims about what it may or may not cure. Marijuana as a medicine is exceptionally complex with dozens of different compounds acting in concert to produce a wide range of effects.

It is true that when they try and isolate specific single compounds from marijuana the results have been disappointing, but that is not how marijuana works, so these attempts are really not appropriate.

Two things are clear: Marijuana is safe, with no deaths from overdose, and it reduces suffering for many conditions.

Please stop misrepresenting what the medical-marijuana movement is about. There are those who believe it can cure some conditions, but they are on the fringe.

Forman Howes, Vancouver