Leticia Pepper

San Bernardino The Sun Newspaper Letter to the Editor | May 7, 2011 Can you imagine a county's Board of Supervisors claiming they have no responsibility to make sure county residents have access to pharmaceutical drugs? Can you imagine them banning all pharmacies? Yet that's equivalent to what San Bernardino County's Board of Supervisors did by adopting an ordinance to ban all dispensaries of cannabis (the correct term for "medical marijuana"). Many people who use cannabis do so because of the horrible side effects they've experienced from long-term use of pharmaceutical drugs to treat chronic conditions such as migraines, AIDS, cancer, autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and lupus, back pain, depression, anxiety, ADD, ADHD, Parkinson's and more. Why? Because it works without the life-threatening and/or annoying side effects, like cirrhosis and depression, which accompany many pharmaceutical drugs. Plus, it works quickly, without causing vomiting, when inhaled, and, as an herb which patients can legally grow for themselves, can be a lot less expensive than pharmaceutical drugs. U.S. patent 6630507, held by the federal government since 2004, states that some of the active ingredients in cannabis - the cannabinoids - are anti-oxidants and neuro-protectants useful in treating stroke, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, autoimmune diseases, AIDS and more. The best evidence that cannabis works is not the federal government's patent on its main active ingredients, but rather the experiences of real, live people who want to keep using it, because it's natural, can be grown like tomatoes and zucchini, and works. LETITIA PEPPER Director, Legal and Legislative Analysis, Crusaders for Patients' Rights Riverside

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Leticia Pepper

"It Works": Leticia Pepper's Letter to the Editor