Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jul 2009
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Website: http://www.drugsense.org

LETTER OF THE WEEK

POT SHOULD BE TAXED & REGULATED LIKE ALCOHOL

By Steven J. Catalano

Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

Excess is death and moderation is life. Really Dennis, your 
anti-Berkeley bias (Dennis Wyatt's July 10 column: "Hey man, like tax 
me, like a lot, like now") is shooting your professional journalistic 
integrity right out of the saddle! Is this not a free society?

Nothing that isn't overtly dangerous should be made arbitrarily 
illegal.  No commonly used herb, commodity or comestible should be 
denied to any free adult in America.  We are free to choose, as 
individual adults, what, how much and how often we may indulge in. 
After all it's not marijuana that's harmful per se; but the habitual 
over-use of it can have a dulling effect on the mind. Just like 
alcohol, marijuana should be regulated and taxed because, unlike 
alcohol, there are no documented incidents of death caused by 
marijuana use. That's right, zero direct fatalities!

Just because we don't want children using it does not mean that 
adults should be barred from it.  The same is true of a number of 
things including tobacco, prescription drugs and alcohol. When are we 
as a society going to learn to be responsible for ourselves?

If we ask the government to delve into areas which are by rights 
personal choices; we are opening the door to arbitrary prohibition on 
a broader scale. And prohibition does not work in a free society. The 
only way government prohibition could work is if our freedoms were 
rescinded, repealed or at least substantially reduced! And I don't 
think anybody wants that.

Raise your children by setting a good example; teach them well; and 
above all, don't cast blame on inanimate objects, substances or 
disparate groups of peoples! As Shakespeare said, the fault lies 
within us all; that's the way we're made. We each have to learn to 
choose wisely in a free society. Freedom carries with it 
responsibility; if children aren't taught this, they grow into 
irresponsibly excessive adults.

Steven J. Catalano

Manteca

Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jul 2009

Source: Manteca Bulletin (CA)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n693/a05.html 
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