DR. FARNSWORTH REPLIES

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Mr. Jackson's letter documenting the incompetency and untruthfulness of Dr. Prout and myself is an interesting example of the difficulties involved in attempting to avoid the harmful effects of drug usage.

Unfortunately, Mr. Jackson is not burdened with the knowledge we have obtained in caring for patients who are troubled by their use of marijuana; neither is he responsible for helping others avoid such difficulties. Our findings and opinions were not based on imagination, we do not feel impelled to render judgements to please the older generation, we do have a library, and we do read books and journals. We pay attention to clinical findings as well as to what we read. All our statements are documented in medical publications or based on clinical experience. We have no ghost writer from the F.D.A. We have seen patients who have moved from marijuana up through more dangerous drugs to heroin. We do not know of any advantave to be obtained from misrepresenting what we observe.

We cannot publish detailed case histories in a community such as this one without taking a serious chance of violating the privacy of some individual.

The misuse of alcohol is widespread throughout the country, but that fact does not justify the legalization of still another harmful agent.

Mr. Jackson is right in one respect: communication between those who have had experience with the casualties of unwise drug-taking and those who see only glamour in the hallucinogenic drugs is seriously impaired. Those who are presumably experts in writing might help us overcome this difficulty rather than attack us with such asperity.

Those who wish to consult responsible sources of information on cannabis derivatives (hashish, charas, bhang, ganja, dagga, and marijuana) will find Hashish: Its Chemistry and Pharmacology, Walstenholme, G.E.W., ed., Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1965, of interest; also, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Goodman, L.S. and Gilman,A., 3rd Edit., New York, Macmillan Co., 1965, pages 299-301, Grollman, A., Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Philadelphia, Lea and Febiger, 1960, pages 230-232, and Drug Dependence: Its Significance and Characteristics, Eddy, N.B. and others, Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 37, 1965. Dr.Dana L.Farnsworth   Director   University Health Services