When the first physician goes to jail for recommending the compassionate use of marijuana, Lowe's mean-spiritedness will come back to haunt him. His contempt for the voters matches the contempt shown by the loser politicians. If Lowe is really concerned about children and drugs, why doesn't he speak out on the drugs that are killing our children, like alcohol and cigarettes? Dennis Peron Director Californians for Compassionate Use San Francisco. [end]
Our nation is engaged in a war which, it seems to me, ought to be ended. This war is a war on beliefs and a war on each other. It is commonly referred to as the "war on drugs," and we are its casualties. It is time for us to face reality in our "war on drugs." Among the realities we seem to be ducking are: We are making war on plants. We are making war on those who use these plants. [continues 585 words]
Before starting a testing program and violating the privacy of students who grew up expecting personal respect, legal issues be damned, there should be a [way to] show that the testing will effectively prevent substance abuse. Gerald M. Sutliff Walnut Creek, CA [end]
McCaffrey takes the obdurate federal position that marijuana is a dangerous drug without redeeming attributes. Based on rhetoric alone, if our government had the power, marijuana not only would be illegal, it would be extinct. Millions of Americans who disagree with their government assessment support a hugh recreational market that thrives despite a half-million arrests per year and despite an enormously expensive suppression effort that could be labeled futile and fatuous. Those adjectives also aptly describe the general's laundry list of complaints about marijuana, all of which have been heard ad nauseam and refuted. [continues 128 words]
It is clear that there are not enough policemen on the streets to do more than man radar traps and investigate accidents. It is also clear that, while the Police Department does an admirable job of investigating the drive-by shootings and the deaths that result from them, there are obviously not enough police to adequately patrol our more troublesome neighborhoods... I am told that 30 percent of the officers in our Police Department work "undercover" in the drug enforcement division. If this is true,I think it is appalling. These "undercover" officers are the ones who sleep all day and spend their nights wearing civilian clothes while they cruise our local nightspots trying to catch folks smoking pot or to trick otherwise law-abiding citizens into selling them small amounts of marihuana so they can arrest them and throw them into our already overcrowded jails and courts. Personally,I'd rather put our policemen out on the street to catch murderers, rapists, muggers, and car thieves... Arthur R Sobey [end]
However, a prescription is essentially a letter to a pharmacist. Under Proposition 215, a "letter of recommendation" is a communication to state and local law enforcement agencies. How can the federal government withdraw prescription-writing authority for writing a letter of recommendation? The doctor who writes such a letter is not violating his Hippocratic oath, nor is he prescribing in a fast and loose manner drugs which have been proven to be harmful when used in excess. Nor would he be guilty of "fraudulent prescription practices." [continues 125 words]
The time has come for our political leaders to overcome their inertia regarding medical marijuana and the decriminalization of cannabis. Jean Chretien, please take that courageous step toward making marijuana available to Canadians. As Theodore Vallance stated in the article, "... a lot of gangsters and mafiosi are happy to maintain the present state of affairs." Carey Ker Toronto [end]
Take, for instance, the "gateway theory" that marijuana use leads to the use of "harder" drugs such as cocaine and opiates. By the government's own classification marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it is among the most harmful known. Cocaine and opiates, however, are classified as Schedule 2, denoting them as less harmful than Schedule 1 drugs. And how about the statements that marijuana causes cancer at a time when newspapers everywhere, the Wenatchee World included, are reporting that THC, in fact, does not cause cancer. [continues 78 words]
It is encouraging to see New Scientist take once again the calm and rational position concerning illicit drug issues. Yet asking our governments to do the same is a request they simply cannot honor while Substance Prohibition reigns as the policy paradigm of choice. The Prohibition of some drugs deemed "harmful" is the root of the problem: it has as a supporting axiom the idea that society can or should be made "free" of these products by force, even when their dangers are quite possibly inconsequential compared with our permitted drugs, alcohol and tobacco. As long as Prohibition reigns, irrationality must accompany it. [continues 63 words]
I don't envy Helen Gatewood's duty (as director of the International Association of Alcohol Beverage Distributors Inc.) to defend her products' "good name." However, as an American citizen, I feel it's my duty to point out a few facts about the carnage alcohol inflicts upon our society, such as: An estimated 200,000 directly related deaths per year. An estimated 2.2 million traffic accidents with alcohol involved harming 1.3 million innocents, with over 16,000 deaths in 1995 alone. [continues 140 words]
Though I do not know the specifics about the individual cases, I noticed a man convicted of growing marijuana received nine months in prison, while a man convicted of indecent exposure, involving a child victim, only received six months. That type of sentencing is occurring nationwide. It is sad to see that our country has become so paranoid about marijuana that judges penalize offenders more than those who commit sexual crimes against children. The citizens of this country have been brainwashed by the government's anti-drug propaganda trying to cover the mistakes it has made with its "war on drugs." Every citizen has become a victim because our tax dollars are being used to hold nonviolent marijuana offenders in already overcrowded prisons. We need to stop supporting the big business of building more prisons and examine the real repercussions of the war on drugs. Rachel E. Kurtz, Olympia [end]
The illegal drug trade is a huge dollar producer on the world market, some $500 billion by one United Nations estimate. Competition for franchises and other disputes are routinely settled by violence. Innocent children often feel forced to arm themselves for protection from their peers and the wanton disregard for human life. Inner cities have often been compared to war zones. Several generations have now been raised in this atmosphere, and increasing profits guarantee that future generations will also succumb to the temptations of easy money. No amount of coercion will overcome this plague. Until we have sense enough to eradicate the drug lords and their black market by taking over supply, perhaps by doctors treating addicts, we can only expect worse. Jerry Epstein [end]
I expect many people will disagree with my position on marijuana. After all, we have been conditioned to a sequence of propositions which lead inexorably to resisting any attempts at loosening state and federal restrictions on all Schedule 1 drugs, and it is difficult to back away from such commitment. Quite the contrary, in fact. We seem bent on adding more and more items to the list. Still, I dare to suggest that the government change its course. Not only is the "war on drugs" in general an inappropriate and ineffective solution to a problem of human motivation, but there is also some logic in specifically decriminalizing marijuana. [continues 823 words]
Nay, I assure you, the diversity of opinion among the 56 percent of California voters who supported Proposition 215 is enormous. On my own part, I have been forthright with my view on this. Yes, I favor legal pot for any and all adults who prefer it. I also advocate the legalization of all plants, including coca and poppies. But it would be delusional to imagine that the current legal status of medical cocaine and medical opiates, such as morphine and codeine, somehow makes it more probable that coca and poppies will be made legal. [continues 75 words]
End the practice of making criminals of medical patients who can benefit from marijuana. Do we expect sick people in America to suffer to further our failed Prohibition policies? Establish a system modeled after our current alcohol regulations which will inhibit minors from obtaining marijuana. Drug dealers who are given the control under Prohibition have no qualms about sales to minors. Those with business licenses to sell these products would have them. Eliminate the billions of our tax dollars being wasted yearly hunting down and arresting productive, adult citizens who chose to use marijuana for recreation. Many important government programs which are failing due to lack of funding could benefit from that money. Social Security, for example. Make it possible for adults who chose to use marijuana to have a regulated source which would insure quality and purity of the marijuana they consume. Black market marijuana may contain impurities which may pose a hazard to those who use it, i.e. contamination by pesticides or fungus. [continues 88 words]
Polls taken during the election campaign clearly showed that voters did not approve of unregulated marijuana use. Listing organizations that have failed to endorse medical marijuana does not make a convincing point as those bodies hardly speak for every member, let alone every physician. In addition, several have noted that cannabis shows promise as medicine and favor more studies. Research on immune system suppression is inconclusive and becomes inconsequential when human patients are studied under clinical conditions. In fact, all of the immense dangers pointed out by Evans are so far removed from the context of the original studies that his evidence crumbles when real- world conditions are observed. No drug use, medical or recreational is without harm. These harms must be examined in proper context as when one weighs the question: Do we really need to imprison doctors and patients to send the right message to children? John M. Koons, Sayreville [end]
So, the whole thing began in shame and to keep it all going, the shame has had to get worse and worse. After 60 years it appears federal authorities are willing to suspend any of our rights and intrude without limit into our daily lives to protect us from marijuana. Never mind how obvious it is that prohibition of any substance as popular as marijuana cannot work. Alcohol prohibition is a perfect example. Prohibition means no control. Until marijuana is controlled like alcohol and tobacco, the war on drugs will keep damaging us more than all illegal drugs combined ever could. [continues 59 words]
Will we have any rights left in the wake of the war on drugs? War on some drugs, of course, mostly marijuana. We and the Bill of Rights are the main casualties. Every day it becomes clearer that a cease-fire is out of our hands. Our government does not represent us. Government represents the money of those building new prisons, selling drug-testing kits, selling legal drugs, even the organized criminals pouring illegal drugs into our country. Drug profits are astronomical, enough to buy all the political influence it takes to keep the war on drugs going until there are few survivors. [continues 87 words]
Some years ago, Americans, optimistic about the War on Poverty, cringed at the suggestion that the growing welfare bureaucracy might actually be creating problems despite its sincere efforts to solve them. There's a parallel here. Instead of expanding our notoriously ineffective drug control bureaucracy, we'd do better to reform it based on insights we've gained from welfare reform. Eighty years of bureaucratic drug interventionism has resulted in more social problems, not fewer. Per capita non-medical drug use in 19th-century America was about the same as today. But there was no gang violence because the market was legal. Drugs of low potency were popular; the druggist on Main Street had no need to concentrate the drugs for compactness in smuggling. No big money changed hands. Unhappily, some troubled souls became addicts. An imperfect but undramatic situation prevailed. [continues 502 words]
Once again we hear of starving refugees. Once again the world's governments and the U.N. ignore a vital food supply - easy to grow, 2 to 3 crops a year, grows almost anywhere, no pesticides or artificial fertilisers. For thousands of years much of the human race survived from cannabis seed, using it to make gruel and bread. Today the plant is banned almost everywhere, seemingly because those in power do not want people to get high. The many medicinal uses of cannabis are similarly ignored. [continues 83 words]
The ridiculously out-dated 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 is patently not stopping the great British public from consuming ever greater quantities by criminalising their use ("Trainspotting: the reality". 13 February). The new Home Office report demonstrated that government policy is giving 3600m per year to violent criminal gangs in London alone every year. I propose the Government legalise cannabis, tax it, and use the money to subsidise proper education and harm-reduction campaigns against hard drugs. Though the public has accepted that drug-taking is as common place as, and safer than, many legal activities, the Government continues in its futile War on Drugs, denying any debate - even on the subject of medicinal= cannabis. Jon Thompson Macclesfield, Cheshire. [end]
We have set it up and now we will have to try riding out disaster. We could be using alternative fuel were it not for the power of Big Oil. The United States was the only industrialized nation not to sign the pact for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. How will we explain this to our kids when weather becomes one of our biggest killers? Maybe there will be a few of them to ask questions. Big Oil is also the major player in keeping hemp from the people. Food, fuel, oil, paper, fiber, medicine - countless natural hemp products would cut into profits of Big Oil's pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, synthetic fiber and motor fuel empire. [continues 86 words]
In the midst of the stupendous failure of the drug war, a miracle has occurred: Some 35 million Americans have quit cigarettes, acknowledged as one of the most addictive substances known to man. How in the world could this have happened without laws prohibiting the possession and sale of nicotine? Could it be that we are capable of helping ourselves and "choosing life," without the threat of fines and incarceration? We cannot continue to expect laws and law enforcement to solve all our problems. They merely exacerbate the reasons people use drugs in the first place. We need to place more responsibility upon ourselves, and our children, along with compassion and above all, communication. We need to put down fear and hysteria and accept that some people will have to learn their own lessons. Out of this may come a safer, saner, happier world, drugs and all. Randall Vlahos, 44 [end]
The Oct. 4 [1999] guest column by Charles Davis titled "Tough drug sentences best solution to problem" quietly begs for argument. Mr. Davis leaves two assumptions unstated, much less examined. The first is his own posture on "drugs," and the second is his idea of a solution. A headline in a later edition of the Daily News read: "Drugs show promise, doctor says." Our dilemma is clear. In our society we have drugs and we have "drugs." We are not at war with drugs. Our national drug industry is an economic elephant, not just in North America but around the world. The drugs they make are the ones sold over the counter or by prescription at drug stores. We see and hear their version of this word constantly, and we pay it no more attention than we do noises about other things we don't want. [continues 800 words]
Colin Ramsay (Letters, 14 Feb) says there seems to be no learning curve in the matter of drugs control. I agree; I despair to see people repeating these myths as facts. If there are mental hospitals full of cannabis victims, why did the Lancet say in 1995: "The smoking of cannabis even long term, is not harmful to health"? Even the DEA has stopped most of these unfounded claims. The reason the Egyptians made these claims was to protect their cotton crop against hemp which was about to become a very viable alternative due to the invention of a new harvesting machine in 1937. It is incredible that many people still believe that old "reefer madness" propoganda. Yours truly, Hugh Robertson [end]
Dear Editor, Mr. Krauthammer apparently believes that the only politically correct AIDS patient is a skeleton, wasting away as death approaches. Mr. Krauthammer is offended by the sight of healthy AIDS patients who remain healthy only through the daily use of marijuana. "Not fair" he says. Those with a desire to be better informed than poor Mr. K should read "Research Findings on Medicinal Properties of Marijuana" by Kevin Zeese Esq. Over 70 studies document the efficacy of marijuana as medicine. The report, published in January 1997, is the most recent and most complete document of its kind to date. Sincerely, Arthur R Sobey Corpus Christi, Tx. [end]
Marijuana should be taken from the list of Schedule I substances that doctors are banned from prescribing or even experimenting with. Instead, it should be listed as a Schedule II controlled drug that may be legally administered to relieve pain and suffering. After all, the Federal Institute of Drug Abuse has it's very own research marijuana field somewhere in Mississippi. By the time Reagan took office, there were 25 people in the FDA's compassionate use program and the government was, and still is, engaged in harvesting cannabis and shipping it off to a former tobacco plant in North Carolina. There it is processed into cigarettes and mailed off to doctors who distribute the pot to patients. [continues 98 words]
It seems to me that parents who force their kids to submit to urinanalysis have more problems than drugs in store for them. Parents who show such disrespect for their children are likely to wind up breeding contempt for themselves. That contempt, in turn, may lead to the very thing the parents are testing for: drug use by their children. Yes, urinanalysis could be a gateway to drugs! Why not just try to communicate with children instead? GLENN LINGLE, Santa Monica, California [end]
All Americans are indebted to the voters of Arizona and California. Their state initiatives last year began, in essence, with the simple request that medical marijuana be made available under the same terms as morphine and cocaine. Other, less publicized actions expressed the voters' desire to focus on violent crime and end the rash of incarceration for mere possession. The large margins of victory and the remarkable response of the federal government, replete with lies, character assassination, contempt for voters' intelligence, and threats against states and doctors, are allowing the nation to see the rotten core of the federal monopoly on drug policy and a glimpse of a better way to fight drug abuse. [continues 727 words]
Prohibition is the reason that kids have access to pot, cocaine, LSD and heroin. Un-controlled distribution of these drugs is unacceptable. Krauthammer wants us to be honest about marijuana. I do too. Marijuana is medicine. Dr. Jerome P. Kassirer made this clear in his editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. One of the chemicals in marijuana (tetra-hydrocannabinol) is prescribed by doctors. The dronabinol pill doesn't always work as well as marijuana. I say let physicians choose the best medicine for their patients. Arthur Livermore Arch Cape [end]
We are told by the federal government that there are no medicinal uses for marijuana, but that its medical uses are found in pill form. One of these statements must be false! When is the government going to allow research to be done to answer the questions of cannabis' medicinal value? There is much information on medicinal cannabis at http://www.druglibrary.org. I suggest people read the existing research for themselves. A H Clements [end]
Dear Editor, In the opening paragraph of his story, Scott Canon stumbles badly. Scott says "No doubt, pot dulls the senses". This statement is true and false at the same time. A fact of life at rock concerts the last 30 years has been the overwhelming presence of pot. The odor of marijuana, drifting over the crowd, is a smell that can't be mistaken. The reason, as any concert afficionado will tell you, is because music sounds better when you're high on pot. Pot smokers have a heightened awareness of musical sounds, not a dulling of the sense of sound. [continues 90 words]
McCaffrey has repeatedly referred to the importance of science over ideology and that is exactly the point. Our drug control policy has always been based on the pure ideologies of ignorance, irrational fear and racism. It is no wonder the people fought for and won the repeal of alcohol prohibition. The medical marijuana initiatives in California and Arizona are the people petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. None was "duped" into voting for the initiatives; the people weren't afraid to speak their minds on a federally taboo issue, but the government just remains unwilling to listen to them. David Carter, Houston [end]
Dear Editor, The maxim, "truth is the first casualty of war", is particularly true in the War on Drugs. A prohibition, accompanied by harsh sanctions, is a sure stifler of truth. Mary Mitchell spoke from her heart in her courageous column. While I applaud Mary, I don't condemn those who are silenced by fear of imprisonment, job loss and public ostracism. Protection of self and family must come first for most of us. Predictably, the imprisonment of tax paying pot smokers and the destruction of their families has failed to show any success in halting the flow of drugs to school children. Zero tolerance "reefer madness" propaganda has also failed. When intelligent teens, like Marys son, seek out authority figures for guidance on marijuana, they are entitled to the same truths they are taught in Math or English. Arthur R Sobey [end]
Judge Nieto obviously wants to make it impossible for anybody to serve on a jury that doesn't agree with his misconceived notions of justice. After Nieto's verdict is overturned, this loony son of a bitch should be impeached and tried for obstructing justice. In order to carry out this tyranny, Nieto had to deny Kriho a jury trial, which is exactly his intention in every case that comes into his court. Nieto seeks to nullify the jury system by prejudicing the jury-selection process so that only those who believe in guilty until proved innocent can serve. [continues 61 words]
I am surprised however that Dr Oliver, is so entrenched in his position, and seemingly unwilling to read the scientific evidence. Drug tests are notoriously fallible, and false-positive results are common. Drug test companies own literature admits that the false positive rate using proper laboratory practice is around 5%. Add into that bad sample management and laboratory practice and the rate of false positives could be as high as 20%. Also drug tests tell more about a person than just use of illegal drugs. An employer can find out whether a person is pregnant, or taking prescribed drugs. Unscrupulous employers may turn people down for employment because their medical condition may prove expensive in future benefits. [continues 162 words]
I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed the ironical juxtaposition of your January 22 articles concerning the cannabis seizure in Blenheim and the quaint era of alcohol prohibition in Southland. Is there any doubt that someday an article will appear in The Dominion concerning the "bad old days" of cannabis prohibition? The story on Southland's prohibition era notes: "Many otherwise law-abiding folk refused to obey the no-drinking law, and clandestine distilling reached its peak." Sound familiar? [continues 102 words]
If we taxpayers were willing to subsidize these addicts with good, cheap, clean dope and safe needles, we could save a bundle and help make the streets safe, cleaner and better. In such a case then SSI, if it were reinstated, very possibly could support these people and keep them from mugging, stealing and trading sex for drugs and drugs for sex. If the insanity of their everyday lives were lessened, some might find enough hope to seek help with their addictions. That's a lot of "ifs." But what could be worse than the hell MacDonald describes, for The City and its inhabitants? Gerald M. Sutliff Walnut Creek [end]
The adjective "clueless" could be applied most appropriately to the federal government for its insistence that criminal prohibition is the only possible approach to drug problems. "Clueless' also fits MacDonald for implicitly agreeing. THOMAS J. O'CONNELL San Mateo [end]
I too hope that Noel Gallagher's comments will lead to a sensible debate on drug policy and agree with Paul Shurey's suggestions that hysterical media and political responses currently prevent us from doing so (31 January -Comment and analysis). However I would like to point out that it is not only *young people* who use illegal drugs, although most media coverage would have us believe this. In fact a recent government report "Drug Misuse Declared" indicated that professionals living in smart urban areas are the biggest users of illegal drugs. The highest level of drug taking in the 19 - 59 age group was found in households with an income of more than #30 000 a year. One wonders how many Members of Parliament could truthfully declare that they had never used illegal drugs. [continues 126 words]
Your editorial is timely and makes good sense. Attorney General Lungren efforts to regulate card-rooms are meritorious. You state he wants, "bring controls to this form of gambling that poses an easy target for money laundering, loan sharking and other crimes." You not further that the states 203 card rooms operate unchecked. No one oversees that clubs operate legally" and you end with, "Californians should be able to rest assured that those establishments operate within the law." Oh, were it so that Mr. Lungren could apply this logic to the "medicinal marijuana" operations. For an excellent example of how this might be done he should call his counter part in Boston, MA and learn how Governor Weld and the state are trying to regulate medicinal marijuana in a way that assures proper use for medicinal effect while protecting its states doctors from the federal government over reaching ban on the substance to which Californians have demanded access. Very truly yours Gerald M. Sutliff [end]
Concerning your front page story on 2/3/97 "Ban on gay 'marriages' hot issue at Capitol". When will legislators and lawmakers learn that they cannot legislate morality. A ban on (prohibition of) gay marriages will not work. Prohibition of anything, whether ideas or substances, has not, and will never work in the U.S. Prohibition in the U.S. only hurts the very people that the legislation attempts to protect. Alcohol prohibition didn't work in this country in the 20's because black marketeers didn't then and don't now ask for ID, they only ask for money, and lots of it. [continues 301 words]
I applaud the Saturday, Feb. 22 New York Times editorial advocating federal funds for clean needles. In honor of Black History month, it is important to fill in the part of the story that has to do with race and ethnicity. The death and suffering from the injection-related AIDS epidemic is falling mainly on African Americans and Latinos. Over 70 percent of all injection-related AIDS cases have occurred among African Americans and Latinos, although those groups together represent about 22 percent of the American population. [continues 134 words]
Until we take necessary steps to take the obscene profits out of drug trafficking, drugs from Mexico, Nicaragua and elsewhere will keep coming. GERALD M. SUTLIFF Walnut Creek, Calif. [end]
If that's the standard, let's apply it to America's two most common pleasure drugs, alcohol and tobacco. If tobacco was subjected to FDA scrutiny it would be a Schedule I drug, prohibited just like heroin because it is extremely addictive and has no medicinal value. Alcohol would join cocaine in Schedule II, having some medicinal value but still having enough potential for abuse to warrant full criminalization if used for recreation. This points out the hypocrisy of America's drug enforcement system. The recreational drugs endorsed by the majority have been exempted from the scheduling standards that harshly criminalize users of drugs like marijuana. Marijuana is currently used by about 20 million Americans and has been used at one time or another by 50 million others, including our president and House speaker. All drugs should be subjected to the same standards of criminalization determined by a factual review of their potential for causing harm. Equal protection under the law demands that America's double-standard must end. Johanna Wools, Grand Coulee [end]
One of the prime reasons that the Drug Enforcement Agency and its fellow drug warrior organizations are striving so desperately to block the approval of medicinal marijuana is that if marijuana does become accepted as a valid medicine it will have to be reclassified from Schedule I (too dangerous for physicians to prescribe) to Schedule II (available for doctors to prescribe). It would then be possible for any physician or medical institution to do the unbiased, objective research that has been blocked so effectively by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the DEA for all these years. [continues 101 words]
Indeed, the actual number of deaths is probably closer to 50. Nevertheless your editorial calls for a sort of guerrilla warfare against the drug. The estimates of deaths attributable to tobacco and alcohol in the European Union are 500,000 and 150,000 annually. However, this does not lead us to engage in a war on tobacco or a battle against alcohol. A recent consultation paper issued by the British government proposed changes to licensing legislation, with longer permitted hours on Friday and Saturday nights: This states: "The government believes that people should be allowed to spend their leisure time as they wish, provided they do not unreasonably harm others' interests , and should not be prevented from doing so by unnecessary government interference." [continues 64 words]
Ever since the crackdown on bulky cannabis products, the black market has switched to other less detectable substances. By keeping marijuana illegal, governments have allowed more dangerous substances to flood the market. Another reason why young Europeans have turned to Ecstasy and other mind-altering illegal substances is that they have long discovered that the official statements about cannabis are mainly untrue. Matthew Appleby Media Awareness Project Europe Bollendorf, Germany [end]
The strategy of targeting street trade and small-time users has been the cornerstone of Swedish drug policy since 1980. The result is that drug use is exploding uncontrollably in Sweden. Despite Europe's most repressive drug laws, the police and authorities are powerless to stop it. Prohibition has failed. The only way we will ever control drugs is through legalisation, regulation and taxation. Mikael Forsberg Jonkoping, Sweden [end]
Perhaps you could persuade Bigelow to do another column on prohibition. Richard Nixon's attempt to teach pot-smoking hippies a lesson by outlawing marijuana in 1970 have led this country badly astray. The War on Drugs, started in 1972 by Nixon, has led directly to the largest black market in history; larger than even the ill-fated prohibition of alcohol in the '20s. The real gateway to hard drugs isn't marijuana. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, "It's the Prohibition, stupid." Arthur R. Sobey Corpus Christi, Texas [end]
