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Inevitably, some bureaucrat goes ahead and says what a lot of nanny statists are thinking. Sure, marijuana may be less unhealthy than tobacco, but they should both be illegal. Guam, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is considering a bill to legalize medical marijuana. A "consultant" with the World Health Organization, Dr. Temo Waqanivalu, urged Guam not to do it. Via the Guam edition of Marianas Variety:
"They both can cause death ultimately. We would love to see that both marijuana and tobacco are made illegal," Dr. Temo Waqanivalu said. "That's the ideal [outcome], but the fact remains that one is legal and the other is illegal. Someone who argues that tobacco kills and marijuana cures is disregarding the mental effects of marijuana," the WHO consultant said in an interview after his presentation at the Healthy Island Healthy People conference hosted by the Non-Communicable Disease Consortium on Friday.
Waqanivalu went on to blame "tobacco companies" for why Guam and the countries of the Pacific haven't made the Pacific region "tobacco-free," and "processed foods" for why Pacific Islanders are prone to non-communicable diseases, suggesting governments "restrict their inflow."
Public health is the health of the state?
More Reason on cigarettes and marijuana.
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