Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jun 2013
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2013 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Michael Milburn

REPORT ON COLO. STUDY MAKES BOGEYMAN OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

I read your article on kids in Colorado who were brought to the
emergency room after they ingested marijuana ("Medical marijuana might
put kids at risk, study says: Drug-laced food put children in ER after
Colorado OK'd use," Metro, May 28). The article seemed intended to
raise doubts about the wisdom of having medical marijuana available.
As a man whose wife has breast cancer, I am acutely concerned about
this issue, particularly since other studies have found that marijuana
can reduce breast cancer risk.

Context is everything. A quick Google search found that there are
500,000 calls to poison centers every year in this country, and 67,000
kids end up in emergency rooms because of poisoning. For marijuana,
you are talking about seven kids per year in Colorado, with no fatalities.

In fact, there are no documented cases of fatalities with marijuana,
making it far safer than alcohol, but with a much weaker lobby in the
State House.

I hope that any future articles on marijuana that you publish will be
more balanced.

Michael Milburn

Newton
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