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DRUG AGENCY'S OWN JUDGE SAYS MARIJUANA'S SAFE

In response to Terence P.  Farley's letter ( "Studies prove that marijuana's dangerous, Dec.  27, 2003 ), Farley does the work for us by pointing out that in spite of dedicating $65 billion dollars to the "War on Some Drugs" annually, "marijuana mentions .  .  .  were up 140 percent between 1994 and 2000."

He only mentions emergency rooms as an attention-getting "danger" tactic.  It is well known that marijuana is more widely used than any other "illicit" substance, and highly likely that it is mentioned more often, even in emergency rooms. 

Many statements that Farley makes in support of his position are misleading and deceptive.  He states, "Strictly from a health standpoint, studies have shown that marijuana contains much more tar, carbon monoxide and other dangerous chemicals than ordinary tobacco."

He wants recent studies? A British study as recently as this year determined that marijuana actually reduces the size of cancerous and benign tumors. 

Farley hit the nail on the head with his second point -- marijuana does not kill.  In fact, with his great knowledge of the marijuana studies funded by the federal government, he neglects to point out that -- unlike alcohol, tobacco, and every single prescription "medicine" ever created -- marijuana has never killed a single human being in all of recorded medical history. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency's own Administrative Law Judge Frances Young found marijuana to be "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man" and recommended that its prohibition be repealed.  President Jimmy Carter said that no punishment for a crime should be more harmful to an individual than the crime itself, and nowhere is this more evident than in the case of marijuana. 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just last month recognized the medicinal value of marijuana by ruling that the federal government can no longer deny the will of voters in states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. 

California's Proposition 215 is a great example of how the system in America is supposed to work -- the will of the voters has changed state law.  It is a travesty, and a usurping of our very Constitution that the federal government would undermine the state and the people's authority over matters such as these. 

Unfortunately, Farley and other paid prosecutors, who work for the system and not the people, will always fight for the drug war.  Their very livelihood depends upon its continuation. 

SUSAN J.  WOLFE, Green Bay, Wisc.