Tortuga Bi LIBERTY writes, "All smoke is bad for your lungs, so  cannabis should be eaten, never smoked" (Letters, APRIL 17). This is  only partly correct.

Yes, all smoke is unhealthful to the lungs and can increase one's   chances of cough, bronchitis, and other lung problems, though the   data suggest that occasional smokers of marijuana run relatively   little risk. And, unlike tobacco, marijuana smoking has not been   shown to increase one's risk of lung cancer.

Eating marijuana, however, may not be a viable alternative for   everyone: Because of how it's processed by the body, cannabis that's   eaten tends to act much more slowly, while the psychoactive effect is   generally stronger than with smoking and lasts a great deal longer.   Depending on circumstances, this may be either good or bad, but it's   certainly a different experience than smoking.

Another healthy, nonsmoked alternative is vaporization. A vaporizer   allows the user to inhale the active components of marijuana, called   cannabinoids, without the tars, carbon monoxide, and other toxic   combustion products contained in smoke. UC San Francisco researcher   Donald Abrams published a landmark study of one such device last year.

Sincerely,
Bruce Mirken
Director of Communications
Marijuana Policy Project
Visit http://www.mpp.org/subscribe to sign up for MPP's free e-mail alerts.

Pot Clubs a Done Deal
This afternoon (Monday), I went to a supes' committee meeting that dealt with extending the deadline for "medical cannabis dispensaries" to register with the city. All except one pot outlet has failed to register, as required by the supes' own law, with the result that they are now illegal. This is the second time the dealers have failed to meet such a deadline and the second time they have asked for an extension.

The item was the last of six on the agenda. After two hours or so of dealing with other items, the chair, Sophie Maxwell, abruptly announced that the pot item would be continued a week because Chris Daly, its sponsor, was ill.

It would have been nice if she had made the announcement at the beginning of the meeting. But that may have been expecting too much organizational acumen from her. However, she did allow for public comment on the item.

So I made my pitch: The supes should stop caving into the city's drug-dealing industry under the guise of regulating it. Instead, they should hold hearings on the role of drug dealing in neighborhood crime, both petty and deadly.

It was like talking to a herd of heifers. Aaron Peskin shuffled through some papers, off in another world, chewing on some mental cud. Then again, I guess I should consider myself lucky, since at least he wasn't drunk and yelling into a cell phone. Gerardo Sandoval and Sophie Maxwell both had blank looks in their lifeless eyes, as if they had just been drained of all their blood.

It's clear that this item has already been decided. The dealers want cash. The stoners want drugs. The politicians want votes. Put all these wants together, and you get a powerful lobby that will sweep away any obstacles in its path.

Still, it never hurts to stand up and speak the truth, even in the face of utter incompetence.
Arthur Evans
San Francisco

Is "Elitist" code for "Uppity Negro"?
There was once a time when Black people were killed for knowing how to read and write because Blacks could never, under any circumstance, realize that White people were using, demeaning, and abusing them for the sole purpose of White upward mobility, i.e., the jig is up and Blacks would then aspire to want a lifestyle as good as Whites.

Yes, yes there has been progress, but has real change really occurred?

Pre 1960s, the term "Uppity Negroes" was widely used to describe "colored" people who had education, intelligence, status, influence, and material wealth; furthermore, had enough self-worth as a human being to attain the same standard of living as well-off White people.

Well, today with all the racial overtones used in this presidential election of a Black versus a White to become the Democratic nominee for 2008, the word "boy" has been uttered to describe an adult male African-American Harvard Law School Graduate, and phases like "rolling the dice" and "clean and articulate" are used to stir up stereotypical images, plus comparing accomplishments of Jesse Jackson's win in South Carolina with the professed imminent loss of Barack Obama's campaign has been a constant occurrence to remind Whites about Black inferiority.

On the contrary, with all the supposed discrimination against White women, I'm not seeing the same line of demeaning terms with describing Hillary's womanhood like broad or tootsie, not even the massive promotion of a music video featuring a muscular hunk praising his lust for the married Mrs. Hillary Clinton as with disrespecting Mrs. Michelle Obama and their children with "Obama Girl" sticking out her T&A all over the media while lip-syncing, "I got a crush (on the happily married) Obama".

Now, on every station all day (again) the airwaves have been bombarded with Obama's "bitter" statement in describing people who have unfairly fallen victim to today's economic failures as if he had been impeached or disbarred like another US President that Hillary is tightly attached to.

This latest psychological trick intends to remind Whites that Blacks are supposed to stay behind Whites, and Barack Obama is nothing more than an irritating Uppity Negro looking down on hardworking good White folks who have less than he has, which is most untrue. After all, Barack Obama's momma was a good hard-working white folk. Unlike, the $109 million dollar Clintons and Mrs. (Cindy) McCain's $100 million dollar inheritance, Barack and Michelle Obama earned a meager $900,000 in 2007 - finally those student loans could be paid off. Now who's the real elitist? Using Bill Cosby's book title, Come On, People.

Up until now, Blacks have been accused of being obsessed with talking about race, but apparently whenever an opposing race is perceived to be on the winning end, the other tends to bring up race most often.

The irony is the dual meaning of the word "RACE"; hmmm, maybe not, COMPETITION could be its only definition.
Pearl, Jr.
Los Angeles

Nudes4Peace
Nudes4peace demonstrated in San Francisco on March 19 (anti-war), April 1 (peace + freedom), and April 9 (human rights).

At the Olympic torch event, nudes carried faux torches made from new toilet-plungers. When plain-clothes cops told them to get dressed, their spokesperson asked the cops whether their superiors had ordered this anti-nude-protest policy. The police consulted superiors (by cell-phone); then walked away, ignoring the nude demonstrators there-after.

We hope to demonstrate for peace on April 27 at People's Park in Berkeley, on May 18 at Bay2breakers, etc. Freedom until death!
Tortuga Bi LIBERTY,
Senior Unlimited Nudes (SUN)
San Francisco

Keep That Clay Handy
My online research (as gay activist and healer) re. MRSA has resulted in this fortuitous result:

French Clay Can Kill MRSA And 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025120514.htm - "There are very compelling reports of clay treating infections...The clay developed by UB researchers has been very effective in lab testing...studies show that when we mix a bit of our modified clay at very low levels into sewage sludge that contains all kinds of bacteria, the modified clay kills everything...Nothing will grow in it."

Could Clay Block MRSA? - http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=88428 = "Researchers at Arizona State University have found three minerals in certain types of clay that target MRSA, antibiotic-resistant E. coli, and other bacteria."

Searching In Clay To Treat Disease-Causing Bacteria - http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/86756.php - "For thousands of years, people have used clay to heal wounds, soothe indigestion, and kill intestinal worms...one clay killed bacteria responsible for many human illnesses, including: Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), penicillin-resistant S. aureus (PRSA), and pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli).It also killed Mycobacterium ulcerans, a germ related to leprosy and tuberculosis that causes the flesh-eating disease Buruli ulcer."

I conclude that including French clay in your personal apothecary will be a great boon.

Zeke Krahlin
San Francisco