Hi! I just wanted to clarify a few things: Legal to smoke marijuana in California: Uh, not quite. The proposition was passed to legalize the purchase of marijuana for *medical reasons*. You can't just hop down to the local dealer and say, "Gimme some." You have to present a written prescription for an existing medical condition. It is my understanding that pharmacies will be filling prescriptions. Since the local Cannabis Buyer's Club was raided and shut down prior to the passing of this proposition, I'm not sure if it will be able to reopen. I've heard that this proposition will also enable folks to grow their own for the same medicinal purposes. Don't know how that's supposed to work, though. Too bad we can't get a written prescription for the purchase of ferrets. You know, pet a fuzzy, lower your blood pressure. :D I mean, it is medically proven that people with pets live longer, adjust to stress better and are less prone to commit suicide. If we can't legalize them, maybe we could prescribe them! Robin Cook's Contagion: Actually, the testing was not done on ferrets. The ME had a particular virulent strain of influenza virus that he wanted tested. The lab tech told him that if the titer wasn't high enough, that she would have go grow the virus in ferrets and then harvest it. It turned out the titer was high enough and the ferrets were saved. WHEW! Thanks for letting me rant. Irinia [Posted in FML issue 1748]