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Written by Press Banner Letters
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Friday, 11 July 2008 |
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A letter to the editor from Tana Brinnand in Felton
EDITOR,
As I finished the Press-Banner article about the June 13th "pot bust" in Scotts Valley, and then went on to read the gardening section, it struck me how absurd it is that we are arresting people for growing plants — and a plant that has rather beneficial qualities, at that. For those who still have doubts about the value of cannabis, I would pose the question, "Why does the federal government of the United States hold a patent on the medicinal value of cannabis for the prevention and treatment of a wide variety of diseases, including stroke, trauma, autoimmune disorders, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and HIV dementia?"
That’s right, a patent. You don’t have to believe me; you can look it up online at the U.S. patent office: No. 6,630,507. It is assigned to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Service. This, by the way, is a department of the same government that classifies cannabis as a schedule-one drug, having no medical value. Is this not the height of hypocrisy, or is it just deliberate disinformation? I don’t know which is worse, but I do know I can’t be the only one who sees the "disconnect" here.
Yes, folks will abuse anything that gives them pleasure: sex, cigarettes, ice cream, alcohol, television, pot. That’s human nature, but, given that law enforcement, because of forfeiture laws, can confiscate the money and property of people arrested for growing pot — and do so with virtually no oversight and little impunity — and that the courts can take away their children, isn’t it time for the rest of us to speak up against what is turning out to be much more about the abuse of power than the power of abuse?
Tana Brinnand, Felton
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