re: your interesting article

I read your very interesting article on medical marijuana here - http://www.blacktable.com/kinard050706.htm

While I agree with much of your article and won't dispute many of the negative effects of marijuana you site I do take issue with a few of them. I won't take issue with the others either because I don't have details of the studies which you sited but didn't identify or because I don't disagree with your assessment.

I do take issue with the following statements you made:

"One study found that the resulting increased heart rate quadruples heart attack risk in the first hour after smoking."

On the face this sounds logical but the increased heart rate is not unlike the increased heart rate from exercise.  Would you suggest that people not play tennis or run because it might quadruple our risk of heart attack?  You might if you are a doctor and the person you are advising has heart disease or other health factors that would make exercise risky. 

"Like cigarettes, smoking marijuana promotes lung cancer because it creates irritants and carcinogens."

This is what scientists assumed.  However, there are reasons to challenge that assumption.  The first reason is that while marijuana may contain as many carcinogens as tobacco, tobacco contains radioactive isotopes that marijuana does not contain.  Another reason is that marijuana has also been found to have cancer fighting properties -  (http://www.pdxnorml.org/Globe_mj_cancer_013097.html ) and http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2001/22.html

Several recent studies have refuted the idea that marijuana causes cancer.  One is sited at WebMDHealth - http://my.webmd.com/content/article/23/1728_57309 and this one is sited at http://www.counterpunch.org/gardner07022005.html . 

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Tami Halphen
A Blue Activist in a Red State  -http://blueactivist.blogspot.com