As are the indications for any medication at all.... They all have benefits and they all have risks, and they are all specifically indicated when you give them to a patient. All I'm saying, therefore, is that there are some benefits, especially in neuropathic pain, as you so eloquently pointed out, and in terms of nausea and vomiting as a side effect of treatment for cancer. So there are positives to it.
I think the issue here, therefore, are the benefits and the harms. Now, there's a study, one study that shows that there may be harms to the developing brain. There are not that many studies that show there are harms to the developing brain. We know that if we weigh that up against what cigarettes do to young people and what alcohol does to young people, I think we might very well look at how we talk about apples and apples, and not single out one particular drug for vilification. I'm just saying there are at least pluses for cannabis in different forms. There doesn't seem to be any that I know of for cigarettes, and there are pretty bad risks with alcohol.
I just wanted to ask you about the concept of regulating. Cannabis is illegal. If you get found with cannabis in large amounts, more than for personal use, you get fined. It's a criminal activity to use it. I'm talking about the fact that it's not a criminal activity to use cigarettes. It's not a criminal activity to use alcohol, which we know have severe risks. So what would be your suggestion? How would you look at the idea of therefore looking at regulating cannabis in the same way in which you regulate alcohol and tobacco, both of which are extremely addictive, as we well know?