Pubdate: Sun, 18 Apr 2010
Source: Steamboat Pilot & Today, The (CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Steamboat Pilot & Today
Contact: http://www.steamboatpilot.com/submit/letters/
Website: http://www.steamboatpilot.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1549
Author: Leslie Faulkner

SHAM-ED IF YOU DO

Thank you, Mr. Short, for a well-written letter to the editor 
("Business a sham," April 11 Steamboat Pilot & Today) finally 
verbalizing what we have all been concerned about for years: First, a 
medical marijuana dispensary, next, an abortion clinic. And what's 
next? A "topless dancing program"? A "pornographic store"?

Before we all know it, the fair town of Oak Creek will be inundated 
with knife-wielding abortion butchers, pot dens and strippers.

Pardon the sarcasm, but to take the space-age leap from medical 
marijuana to abortions is, well, how can I say this in a polite and 
politically correct way? I consider your letter to the editor to be a 
fictional, backwards assumption with just a sprinkling of medical 
marijuana fact.

Let's for a minute, take this Great Recession, mix in elevating 
unemployment, a freeze on building, a real estate bust, the high cost 
of living in Routt County and low wages, consumer nonconfidence, and 
what do you get when you finally see a little light at the end of it? 
Industry. Small-business startups. A spike in entrepreneurship always 
follows post-recessionary periods.

I think the Town Board of Oak Creek acted with a sincere, open mind 
in the best interest of the entire community, not in the "specious" 
way you described.  Specious also is known as "seeming to be genuine 
but not really so." I had to look that one up.

Whether it's apples or alcohol, many great businesses still alive and 
kicking today started and prospered after the Great Depression.

Speaking of alcohol, its abuse can cause damage to nearly every organ 
and system in the body. Alcoholics likely will (not just potentially) 
come down with everything from cancer to central nervous system 
diseases. Or, drunk and insane, they will cause fatal car accidents, 
kill themselves or engage in cold-blooded murder. Eighty-five percent 
of incarcerated persons in America have substance and alcohol issues. 
My educated guess is that pot smokers were not counted in these statistics.

You implied that medical marijuana dispensaries would have some sort 
of negative influence on "teens and pre-teens." I take this to mean 
you consider marijuana a gateway drug. Having the mind-set that 
marijuana leads to something worse is like thinking a triple 
Starbucks espresso is a gateway to cocaine snorting.  Actually, 
alcohol has been proven the gateway drug to pot smoking. Go figure.

The bottom line is that a medical marijuana dispensary is not going 
to suddenly cause 12-year-olds to abruptly start toting bongs around 
in their backpacks anymore than legalizing alcohol after prohibition 
made more people alcoholics.

If you are 21, you can legally drink yourself to death if you want 
to. As far as I know, there are hundreds of physical, medical and 
mental benefits to smoking pot and not one person has ever died of a 
pot overdose. All the while, the legal drug (alcohol) kills people 
right and left. Accept the facts, Mr. Short: Marijuana will soon be 
completely legal in the state of Colorado, including Steamboat, Craig 
and even Oak Creek -- because baby steps were taken by the medical 
marijuana dispensaries. The medical marijuana dispensaries are the 
necessary gateway to arriving at the final destination: the complete 
legalization of marijuana.

The decision by the Town of Oak Creek is not a "sham," Mr. Short. 
They deserve huge props for standing up, speaking out and acting for 
the good of all. Now at least some folks can start putting food on 
the table and gas in the car again. Oh, and a handful of senior 
citizens may just have an appetite for the first time in years, and 
that's a wonderful thing.

Leslie Faulkner

Steamboat Springs
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