DR. WALLACE: I'm an 18-year-old female. I have never taken any type of illegal drug in my entire life, and I seriously doubt that I ever will. I'm also positive that all of my many close friends are drug-free, and we all talk about not getting involved with guys who are doing drugs. We are thinking that it must be a male thing to be into drugs. Do you agree?

- - Nameless,

Goshen, Indiana

NAMELESS: I agree. The American Council on Drug Education has stated that of teen drug addicts, 72 percent are males. But females do become addicted to drugs, and their addiction is every bit as serious as addiction for males. Please read the following letter from a young mother who had a difficult time overcoming her drug habit:

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Despite the efforts of area educators, law enforcement and medical personnel, the death toll from drugs continues to climb in Tippecanoe County as area residents succumb in increasing numbers to the suffocating grip of addiction.

Accidental drug overdoses killed more people here last year than in any of the previous 20 years, according to the findings of a report compiled by Deputy Coroner Matt Wietbrock. And Coroner Donna Avolt said a preliminary review of this year's deaths suggests the region is on pace to tie 2013's unprecedented high.

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The war on marijuana is a smashing and overwhelming success, if you measure success by how many violations of civil rights, liberties and constitutional rights it has generated.

In a far-flung suburb of Chicago named Shorewood, the Drug Enforcement Agency and local cops entered the house of Angela Kirking for shopping for organic fertilizer. It seems that in itself is reasonable suspicion, if you shop at an Illinois home-and-garden store.

Police ran her plates and found her address. They looked through her garbage, which supposedly had a marijuana scent to it. Also, her electric bill was deemed too high. Finally, they got a judge to sign off on a warrant.

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Judy Brown smokes pot on a regular basis and she's not afraid to say so.

"I need it to help offset my chronic pain from injuries I sustained in a car accident in 1986," the LaPorte woman told me while waiting to see her pain management physician.

Along with her husband, Brown, 60, sat in the office lobby of Indiana University Health in Michigan City and studied a word puzzle. The elusive words she continues to search for in this state, however, are "medical marijuana."

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The legalization of marijuana is becoming an ongoing issue and is one that doesn't deserve all of the media attention that it gets.

On March 14, an article was written in The New York Times titled "Medical Marijuana Bill Dies in Washington State." The article was aimed toward the House and Senate attempting to pass a bill that would bring Washington state's largely unregulated medical marijuana system under control of local governments.

The amendments were made anticipating that revenue from marijuana sales could be distributed to local governments. Many medical marijuana dispensaries and patients opposed the new regulations fearing that their system would be crushed by the commercial market.

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Ind. Considers Bill to Allow Farmers to Grow Hemp.

Indianapolis, IN - Gregg Baumbaugh has 4,000 pounds of cannabis sitting in his automobile parts manufacturing plant. It wasn't illegal for him to import it, but it's against the law for Indiana farmers to grow the variety of cannabis he buys in bulk.

Baumbaugh wants to see that changed. The "weed" he uses to make the insides of interior doors and armrests at his Elkhart County facility doesn't have enough of the psychoactive ingredient THC to give anyone a marijuana mind-altering high.

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We as a nation continue to engage in a war on drugs, which is predominately focused on arrests for marijuana, that violates our basic civil rights.

In New Mexico, David Eckert was subject to digital anal penetration in order to search for drugs in his body. All from a common traffic stop and a drug sniffing dog supposedly smelling drugs on/in him. In the end he got a huge medical bill when not found with any drugs.

Also in New Mexico, a woman experienced (with a vaginal search thrown in) the same dehumanizing procedure off of a drug dog search.

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The time has come for Indiana to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis just like alcohol. Every time I read someone's name in the arrest section for marijuana possession, I am stricken with a profound sense of injustice. Indeed, if the person has driven under the influence, or has otherwise caused trouble, then on that basis they should be punished. But the simple act of possessing or using cannabis should not be a crime.

If the burden were mine to justify legalization, I could fill several pages of newsprint making a persuasive case. The evidence is overwhelming. But in a nation that is supposed to be founded on freedom, it should be the burden of the prohibitionist to justify why an adult citizen should be deprived of his liberty for consuming a relatively benign natural substance. If such a case were made on the basis of harm, then the prohibitionist should be equally willing to outlaw alcohol, tobacco and nearly every form of junk food available. All of these are infinitely more harmful than cannabis.

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Gee, 90 years ago, if someone had snitched on me, I could have gotten arrested for making gin in my own bathtub for my personal use.

Wow, now someone gets arrested for growing plants in their basement.

If the good doctor had been in another state, such as Washington, nothing would have happened.

Sometimes criminality is just a question of geography!

Ray Andersen, Newburgh

[end]

La PORTE - Officials say it is up to the community as a whole to combat substance abuse in the area, starting with the most prevalent drug of choice - heroin.

Following the recent arrests of citizens caught dealing or using heroin and the deaths of young adults following overdoses of the drug, grieving families have organized a walk for heroin awareness.

La Porte resident Chris Day and his family were recently directly affected when Ethan Day was found dead in his home with his girlfriend on June 4. Ethan's toxicology report stated his death was a result of heroin, benzodiazepines and alcohol in his system.

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Regarding Andrea Neal's June 14 column, the days when our federal government can get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign.

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"For first time, majority in U.S. supports public smoking ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws.

"Majority now supports legalizing marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have legalized medical marijuana, decriminalized recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has flirted with the idea.

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Regarding Andrea Neal's June 4 column, if the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success.

The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign.

It's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

- - Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.

[end]

Columnist Andrea Neal has quaffed heartily of the Prohibition Kool-Aid. Her column is major league jerky knee. If she is so miffed on smoking, perhaps she should peruse the writings of Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles, while eating a cannabis medible.

This is not the end of western civilization; it is but our governance slowly catching up to reality.

Don't smoke it if you don't want to. It's a free country and all. But please quit putting people like me in jail for our tastes, our appetites. It is not fair, and you know it.

- - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch, Calif.

[end]

"For First Time, Majority in U.S. Supports Public Smoking Ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws.

"Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have moved to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has been flirting with the idea.

[continues 565 words]

"For First Time, Majority in U.S. Supports Public Smoking Ban." That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of 38 states with smoke-free air laws.

"Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana." That headline appeared this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws. Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have moved to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize recreational marijuana or both. Indiana has been flirting with the idea.

[continues 564 words]

Thanks for publishing Mike Travelstead's thoughtful letter: "Making sense of marijuana debate" (April 14).

I'd like to add that those who think that marijuana prohibition somehow protects our children and society, I'd like them to view a short Youtube video featuring former California Superior Court Judge James P. Gray. Go to Youtube.com and search for "Judge Jim Gray" or search for "Law Enforcement Against Prohibition."

You will see that marijuana prohibition substantially increases all other crime. Back in the 1960s, police solved more than 90 percent of all homicides. Today they solve just over 60 percent. Why? Because of our so-called war on drugs. There are great financial incentives for police to make drug busts and confiscate the drug dealers' money and property, but no financial incentive to solve rapes or murders.

- - Kirk Muse

[end]

I have been listening to the debate about marijuana laws. The argument being made to keep pot illegal which I have no problem with is that it keeps pot away from our kids. But applying that argument to alcohol makes me ask why alcohol is not illegal?

The CDC and the AMA state that there are 75,000 alcohol-related deaths a year, and 50 percent of adult auto fatalities and 39 percent of teen auto fatalities are alcoholrelated. They state that alcohol, not pot, is the most abused drug in the USA.

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I'm not a politician but a pastor. I know little of the process a state engages in to write or overturn a law. However, I'm near 60 years old and over 38 years ago I tried multiple substances in an effort to dull my senses, emotions and/or "get high."

Years ago, as it is still today, the use of marijuana is one of those drugs that aids in reaching that euphoric "high" that the user desires. It was then and is today (with most users) like a drug in "step therapy," when the use of one drug doesn't quite do it you go to the next more powerful choice that provides what the previous couldn't.

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Push For Marijuana Decriminalization Alive And Well In Indiana.

INDIANAPOLIS - The politics of pot may keep Indiana lawmakers from rolling back the state's tough marijuana laws this session, but it won't eradicate the push for decriminalization.

State Sen. Karen Tallian, a Democrat from Portage, has vowed to bring back a bill next year that would turn most marijuana possession offenses into an infraction, the same as a speeding ticket.

Tallian is convinced her proposal, first introduced two years ago, is gaining traction among the public and with some conservative legislators -- despite opposition from Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

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