Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 Source: Dispatch, The (NC) Copyright: 2002, The Lexington Dispatch Contact: http://www.the-dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1583 Author: Dan Scupin, Stan White, Matthew Hulett, Doug Johnson (Editor's Note: These are the last letters to the editor we will be printing from Internet readers of The Dispatch in other states that respond to Lamar Moore's guest column.) 'LUDICROUS STATEMENT' Editor: Guest columnist Lamar Moore makes this ludicrous statement: "It is estimated the drug user can give society no more than one to two years work before he becomes a drone." If he expects to be taken seriously, he will need to make at least some sense. Consider the evil and hated marijuana smoker. I'm sure Mr. Moore thinks those who have tried (and continue to use) the evil weed are mostly drones and can't function in society. Anyone in the real world, who is not dependent on "legal" drug money, knows Moore is just another religious fanatic who wants to control society and, of course, to do it in his own benevolent way. He believes Prohibition 1 was a good idea, the law just wasn't tough enough, and to "save society," we just need a more draconian society. Dan Scupin Destin, Fla. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DON'T PROHIBIT CANNABIS Editor: Lamar Moore's Jan. 15 column assertion that the drug war must continue, for its economic implications, misses the boat! America spent nearly a trillion dollars in its planetary war on some plants and drugs, with hardly anything to show for it. Prohibitionists refer to cannabis as a drug and include the wrath of the devil to those who accept it. This sends a confusing message to youth that cannabis is evil, which couldn't be further from the truth. The Truth of Christ God is explicit: As a Christian, it is a sin to cage sick humans for using cannabis. Thank Christ God for cannabis. Accept cannabis (also known as kaneh bosm, before the King James Version) for what it is as described on the very first page (Gen. 1:11-12 & 29-30). It was discomforting witnessing my 16-year-old dying with cancer, allowed to self-induce morphine every six minutes for pain, denied cannabis use. What would Jesus do? He chose to break the law in order to heal the sick. Cannabis has an awesome safety record. In fact, in 1989, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young concluded not only that marijuana's medical usefulness had been adequately demonstrated, but that the plant had been shown to be "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." The crime of the century has to be the prohibition of hemp and cannabis. American politicians should stop spending other people's money to cage humans for accepting cannabis. Stan White Dillon, Colo. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A FUNNY RATIONALIZATION Editor: Lamar Moore's Jan. 15 column has to be one of the funnier rationalizations I have ever seen to support prohibition of various substances. Number one, the laws prohibiting various substances were rooted in racist, xenophobic tendencies. The positive effects Moore outlines were brought about in large part by labeling requirements, not prohibitionist policies. Proper labeling reduced accidental addiction a great deal before the Harrison Act was passed. Number two, he lumps all drugs together in declaring that drug users cannot be productive for more than one or two years. Not to mention concluding our government has come to a rational drug policy decision concerning alcohol. Where does he get these false facts from? His wish list? His imagination? There is no evidence marijuana or heroin so incapacitate an individual. Crack and methamphetamines may be different for some, yet the evidence shows the vast majority of users of cocaine use the drug moderately, not chronically. I have a list of every major study of drug policy done in the past 50 years. They all recommend decriminalization. We could simply follow the scholarly advice. Couldn't we? I guess we are not ready yet. Moore could use a tad of study at the library, starting with http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm Matthew Hulett Short Hills, N.J. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRACONIAN DRUG LAWS Editor: Lamar Moore's column seems well intentioned but it's short on common sense. True, the down side of hard drugs is scary. However, the overwhelming majority of the 40 or 50 million estimated drug users stay with marijuana or dabble very lightly in harsher terrain. Most aren't addicted and cause no trouble for society. The draconian drug laws, however, are more economically detrimental to society than the things they try to control. Little old ladies with cancer take morphine and continue to function just fine. It's the outlaw concept of drug use that causes the violence and destruction we all fear. The falsely inflated prices are good for organized crime, greedy police departments, drug dealers and politicians. Unfortunately, they lead to uncontrollable corruption. There is no end to this problem, and no hope, until we medicalize it and disband the DEA and all criminal sanctions. Also, there was no real problem with drugs at the turn of the century; opiates were the only pain-killers available. What abuse there was was hardly noticed by society. Addicts were seen as pitiful examples of humanity. Not the local dealers with big cars and fast women that inner-city youth look up to today. What the drug war has done is give every new fad drug free publicity. Given the choice, I prefer to put up with the problems of too much freedom, than to fear the government's attempts to take it away. I thought we were the land of the free. Funny thing about freedom is you can't have it yourself without granting it to others. More education is the key, not shortsighted political grandstanding. Doug Johnson Stockton, Calif. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake