To the Editor,

A May 25 editorial says the effort to block the use of marijuana as medicine "flies in the face of mainstream medical opinion." It says, "One Harvard study of 2,000 oncologists found that 44% has recommended marijuana to patients undergoing chemotherapy."

This was a 1991 project by a Harvard professor and a student. Their questionnaire was send to 2,430 oncologists. Most had never recommended marijuana and favored prescription THC pills over smoking pot. Wouldn't that be the mainstream?

A lead author of a 1999 Institute of Medicine warned that marijuana is so toxic that it should be limited to carefully controlled situations involving terminally ill patients or those whose suffering is not relieved by other treatment.

This is not what the movement to legalize medical marijuana is seeking.

Reed Irvine
Chairman, Accuracy in Media
Washington, May 30, 2002