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Medicinal marijuana track record not proven by history

One resident believes history has not proven the track record of medicinal marijuana

Re: Medical marijuana consistency proven (Letters, Gazette, March 9)

It’s amazing that Stan White has access to 5,000 years of medical history, from which he claims there has not been a single death from use of cannabis.

He does flop the word “medically” around in the sentence, but I don’t see how anyone can know all medical history for the last 5,000 years.

During that time the ability to figure out what someone was cured by or died from has improved from rudimentary to very knowledgeable – even sanitation was not understood two centuries ago. Note that many societies that may have used cannabis did not keep detailed records.

White should define what he means by medical use. A few months ago in Vancouver, 64 people were taken to hospital in one day after over-consuming cannabis in some form. Would those people have been cured of their problem with the state of medical knowledge five millennia ago?

White hurts his own cause with sweeping statements he cannot prove. Any substance has to be used sensibly, including alcoholic beverages and cannabis, especially intoxicants as those are. The history of use of intoxicants is littered with the corpses of those who over-indulge. Personally, I want to stay in control of my body.

Keith Sketchley

Saanich