Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS) Copyright: 2005 The Halifax Herald Limited Contact: http://www.herald.ns.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180 Author: Stan Gray UP IN SMOKE I watched with interest an item on the national news recently concerning medicinal marijuana. Our federal government spent $24.3 million last year growing medicinal marijuana in an abandoned mine, and produced almost 1,000 kilos of it. Most of this was determined to be unusable and is being frozen and used for experimentation. The remainder, some of which was sold to approved users, was said by them to have no effect. Various police departments across the country routinely seize vast amounts of marijuana, and then burn it. Is it such a stretch that perhaps some of this seized marijuana could be turned over to the federal government for approved medicinal use? Sure, $24 million may not seem like a lot of money at the federal level, but this is just another example of waste. STAN GRAY Halifax - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)