Thanks, Nick, but We'll Pass
The word to use is "cannabis." Your column will be a lot more helpful once you read The Pot Book ("J.M. on J.M.," Medical MJ, Feb. 2).
You have yet to mention that just like endorphins, the brain has its own endogenous cannabinoid receptors. This was discovered by researchers in the '90s. Also, you have failed to have a decent article on sativa versus indica, or on CBD, by far the most medically promising compound found in marijuana.
Please reduce your swearing, too. My grandmother once said swearing just means you have a poor vocabulary. You can usually find a better word.
Also worth reading is the section on pot in Integrative Oncology, edited by Andrew Weil. Marijuana may protect the brain following head trauma or the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. It also may actually cause regeneration of brain cells. Also, long-term heavy pot-smokers actually had lower rates of lung cancer than nonsmokers in one study. So there may be a protective effect going on.
Please make your column stronger. If not, I will gladly write it for you.
Nick Marakas
Thanks for Danehy's Work of Staggering Genius
Tom Danehy's "letter" by a grandson to his grandfather is brilliant, a stroke of genius (Feb. 9). If there was ever a more-scathing—but accurate—indictment of the sorry state of Arizona's educational system, I haven't seen it. Some wag wrote a letter to the Arizona Daily Star saying that Arizona's state motto should be "100—and going backward." Unfortunately, that seems all too true.
Who's to blame for this debacle? Not the kids; they learn only from their environment. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "Give us the (right) tools—and we will finish the job." Unfortunately, again, no one seems to know what those right tools are. I personally know two young men who graduated from the same Tucson high school, and neither one of them can read. What does that say?
Keep up the good work; you're a real asset to our community.
Doug Alborn
