Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jun 2016
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2016 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Garrett Soden
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n391/a02.html

ADDICTED TO POT OR ALCOHOL?

Re "Questioning legalization," Opinion, June 5

Kerry Madden's ne'erdo-well brother-in-law isn't an argument to keep 
marijuana illegal any more than my alcoholic uncle is an argument to 
outlaw the wine Madden says she enjoys.

"Marty" letting snakes loose in a hotel and stumbling at a baptism 
show that weed was the least of his problems, which Madden admits 
included alcohol abuse (drunks stumble, potheads do not). Details 
about Marty (he doesn't vote, doesn't go to plays, he moves at night) 
are cherrypicked to aid our condescension and have nothing to do with 
the issue.

Madden's statement that "addiction is addiction, whether it's alcohol 
or pot or heroin" is not only laughably wrong but also reveals a 
puritan's wish to remove all temptation. By that reasoning, credit 
cards should be illegal to deter shopaholics. The scene at Marty's 
funeral, his death apparently unrelated to drugs (or she probably 
would have said so), is gratuitous and manipulative.

I thought this kind of "reefer madness" nonsense was behind us, but I 
guess not.

Garrett Soden

Playa del Rey
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom