I agree with John Stossel's column that the war on drugs is idiotic, concerning laws on marijuana. I do not smoke it, but even since high school decades ago, I argued and still do for legalization of marijuana. Control and heavily tax it just like they do alcohol. The present laws have created a drug war that never will be won.

Marcy Rieser

Warrenville

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Violence associated with the drug trade flowing into the United States from Mexico has spiked on both sides of the border, creating widespread concern over the many law-abiding citizens of both countries who are caught in the crossfire.

The early response from the Obama administration -- increasing border security and finding new methods to cut off the flow of weapons and drugs -- has been commendably swift, as have Mexican efforts to crack down on the cartels that have often operated with impunity south of the border.

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POLO -- The Sauk Valley's little-known effort to aid U.S. warships in World War II has become the subject of a documentary that can be seen on the Internet.

"Government Grown: How Polo, Illinois Helped Win the War" is a 15-minute documentary film about the "Hemp for Victory" program created by the U.S. government during World War II.

Hemp, or marijuana, produces a stalk up to 12 feet tall from which strong fibers can be harvested and turned into mildew-resistant rope. During the war, the Japanese took over the Philippines, where most hemp was produced, and the supply needed to make rope for American ships was cut off.

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Can we assume from John Stossel's column of March 26 that he is one of the "adults" who freely ingests whatever he wants, feeling he's still somehow responsible for his actions? Taking drugs makes people act irresponsibly, causing accidents, harming families by depriving them of coherent and responsibly working adults. It is in fact an irresponsible act to use drugs.

His column discusses the medical use of marijuana. Since marijuana is no stronger or dangerous than many prescription drugs on the market, and helps people who are ill with cancer or glaucoma, this is not unreasonable. But I myself have borderline glaucoma. My eye professionals tried me on five different prescription eyedrops, all of which caused severe enough side effects that they took me off of them.

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The term '4-20' is most popularly known as code for marijuana. Not hemp clothing, not hemp oil or hemp seeds, no, we're talking about recreational, spiritual or medicinal usage of cannabis sativa. Internet lore will tell you six-ways-to-Sunday about how this code came to be. Ask yourself, where did you learn it? Did you overhear it from friends or pop culture? Did you immediately understand it meant cannabis? Where you consuming cannabis at the time you learned it? Now remember this. The time has come to kill the code. Cannabis is a legitimate part of our world and acceptance of this starts with using the proper name.

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Dear Editor:

A sane argument to perpetuate prohibiting, persecuting and exterminating cannabis (marijuana) and hemp doesn't exist.

One reason to end cannabis prohibition that doesn't get mentioned in Sean McGahan's Apr. 2 Voices blog, "Dear Obama: Get to the point, let go of the joint" is because it will lower deadly hard drug addiction rates.

Regulated cannabis sales would make it so citizens who purchase it would not come into contact with people who often also sell hard drugs, which would lower hard drug addiction rates.

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ELGIN -- Michigan recently became the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana. Illinois may not be far behind.

Senate Bill 1381 would allow seriously ill patients with certain debilitating conditions to use medical marijuana without consequence of arrest, and would provide for the patient's primary caregiver to legally possess no more than seven dried cannabis plants and two ounces of dried usable cannabis.

A House version of the bill passed March 4. Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said he expects the Senate vote to take place within the next three weeks.

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Diagnosed with cancer at 16, Scott Poplawski turned to marijuana at the urging of his siblings to fight effects of chemotherapy that were ravaging his young body.

He weighed just 86 pounds after eight months of treatment, down from 220.

Marijuana fought off nausea, stomach pain and diarrhea, he said, and it's worked ever since.

He has since lost his bladder and other effects of the chemo linger, but Poplawski is able to maintain a 190-pound frame today.

That's the reason Poplawski, fellow cancer victims and chronic pain sufferers have been lobbying lawmakers on a measure to allow them their medical marijuana.

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America's Prison Break:

The United States is the world's leading jailer. On any given day, more than 2.3 million people are locked in our prisons and jails-more than in any other country.

Just how bad is it? The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but about a quarter of its prisoners. We have more prisoners than China-a country with a repressive government and more than four times the population of the U.S. We lock up 756 people for every 100,000 U.S. residents-that's about five times as many as England and Wales (152 per 100,000), more than six times as many as Canada (116) and 10 times as many as Sweden (74).

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For all of the keen intellect that President Barack Obama showed in his online town hall meeting, he didn't seem to know much about reefer economics.

When asked whether legalizing marijuana might be a stimulus for the economy and job creation, he played the question for laughs.

"I don't know what this says about the online audience . . .," he quipped as his studio audience chuckled and groaned. "But . . . this was a fairly popular question. We want to make sure that it was answered," he said.

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Neurofibromatosis is a horrible disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissue. While this disease has caused serious, irreparable damage to my body, the myriad of drugs I have been prescribed have done their fair share of harm as well. Why it is socially acceptable for me to be prescribed Oxycontin, Methadone and Valium, but not marijuana, is beyond comprehension. Marijuana works for me when my pain is uncontrollable and my other medications have failed. If the General Assembly approves the medical marijuana bill that just passed committee - SB 1381 - I will be able to use marijuana without having to worry about being arrested for it.

Lucie Macfarlane, Joliet

[end]

In journalist David Simon's acclaimed television series "The Wire," a police major approaching retirement succumbs to the crumbling city of Baltimore around him after a pre-teen drug runner attempts to sell him drugs while in his uniform.

He gives a passionate, frustrated speech to his men about the days in which police solved open-container laws by using a paper bag to avoid the frustration of rounding up every corner drunk.

But with drugs, it's always been a different story.

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The image that most people recall when discussing marijuana may be something from a Cheech and Chong movie, or perhaps a picture of Bob Marley. However, in these uncertain economic times, the prospect of legalization of the drug has many people rethinking their stance on the issue.

Reform of marijuana laws has been most widely publicized in the state of California, which recently legalized medical marijuana. Most recently, though, bills have been introduced in the Massachusetts and Minnesota state legislatures, respectively, to legalize the substance.

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An Illinois medical marijuana bill has taken the next step by passing the state Senate Public Health committee and could be well on its way, advocates say.

Members voted Wednesday 6-3 to allow seriously ill patients with certain debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana as a medicine without fear of arrest if their doctor has recommended it.

The vote clears the way for possible floor votes by the entire Senate and House for the respective bills - a first for Illinois.

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On Wednesday, the Illinois Senate Public Health committee passed HB 2514 that would allow seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana and not have to worry about being arrested for possession of an illegal substance.

The bill is the first of its kind in Illinois and now awaits a vote from the Illinois House.

State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), is the sponsor of the bill, which passed by a vote of 6-3. And state Sen. Bill Haine (D-Alton), a supporter of the bill, said the bill is needed to help those who are critically ill.

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Contemplate the following: Fred, a college senior, starts his year by accidentally getting his girlfriend Jenny pregnant. Fred and Jenny, both young and both not in love with each other, have a fight. Jenny wants to keep the baby, but Fred puts his foot down and says Jenny must get the abortion. A few months later Jenny is still traumatized by her terminated pregnancy, but Fred has moved on.

One night he's having a good time with some buddies, drinking heavily and watching Extreme Championship Wrestling. One of the other guys brings up some past quarrel with Fred, laughing about it, and Fred, mistaking the joke for an insult, puts his knee in the other guy's face, breaking his nose and sending him to the emergency room. When the police come, the other guys cover for Fred, saying it was just some horseplay gone awry.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. --A proposal to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes is once again smoldering in the Illinois Legislature. This time, opponents worry that it might actually catch fire.

Twin measures before the Illinois House and Senate would allow patients to use marijuana to alleviate chronic pain and nausea when other treatments have failed. The list of conditions includes cancer, glaucoma, HIV-AIDS, hepatitis C, Crohn's disease and Alzheimer's.

The medical marijuana debate comes to Springfield almost every year, but Statehouse activity around the issue lately has been more frenetic than usual. Earlier this month, one measure won House committee approval for the first time. Last week, pro- and anti-legalization activists -- including police officers opposed to the plan -- packed into a Senate committee hearing where another measure advanced on a 6-2 vote.

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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many medicines contained current illicit drugs such as heroine, cannabis and cocaine.

The history of drugs was really just trying to combat one addiction after another.

People first saw the effects of opiates which come from opium in poppy plants," said Steve Lux, health educator for health enhancement services. "They would make a black gummy substance called resin and smoke it."

Lux said a new drug was then created to combat opium addiction.

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I read with interest your article on medical marijuana [see "Medical marijuana," by R.L. Nave, IT, Feb. 26]. I then read the letters to the editor in the March 5 issue and I take issue with one writer, who states that he doesn't smoke but he knows all about marijuana and is certain there is no medical use for the drug. How fortunate he is to know intrinsically the value of a drug that he doesn't use and hasn't studied.

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At this exact moment in American history, we find ourselves at a very interesting juncture. Near the center of that juncture is marijuana.

On the one hand we have a large group of people in the United States, backed by current federal law, who believe that marijuana is a vile, pernicious drug that should be suppressed at all costs. And right now the costs are extremely high. There are the costs of law enforcement, imprisonment of users, international interdiction, drug crime, lost tax revenues, etc. There is also collateral damage like the ban on hemp, which would otherwise be an environmentally friendly way to produce natural fibers.

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