Pubdate: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (AK) Copyright: 2005 Fairbanks Publishing Company, Inc. Contact: http://www.news-miner.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/764 Author: Andrew Krohn MARIJUANA FACTS To the editor: Senate Bill 74 and House Bill 96, both currently in committee, are irresponsible and mean-spirited attempts by Gov. Murkowski and our complacent and, in some cases, complicit legislators to create criminals while ignoring sound science and the federal government's past findings. The proposed amendment is rife with vagaries and statements based more on popular propaganda than rationality. One portion states: "There is evidence that it has addictive properties similar to heroin." The problem with this statement, besides that it is pure conjecture, is that it conflicts with the vast evidence to the contrary provided by federal studies. Of note, one should look up "The Truth About Pot," Popular Science, 192:76-79 (1968), National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (1972), and "An Analysis of Marijuana Policy" by the National Research Council Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior (1982). I have written my senator and representative, and both have been predictably silent in response. That our Republican form of government perpetuates fallacy over sound, unbiased conclusion in a dictatorial manner, it is little wonder that there is a tendency these days to disregard the rule of law. ANDREW KROHN Fairbanks - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFLorida)