Seventeen years ago, my 61-year-old mother died of cancer. I saw her suffer. So, for me the issue of smoking marijuana for "medicinal" purposes is not a purely clinical and impersonal issue.

But compassion for the sick and dying is not the real issue. It is about allowing our compassion to be manipulated by those with a larger agenda -- legalization of marijuana and even other illegal drugs.

I do not say this to cast aspersions upon my former legislative colleagues backing this bill. I don't believe they intend to encourage the general legalization of marijuana. But if we start down this road, intent does not determine our final destination.

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I have a growing dislike for the phrase "drugs and alcohol." This term strengthens the notion that the two are separate entities.

However, there is little difference between the two substances. According to hypno linguistics (www.hypnolinguistics.com), they both are substances that alter the mind. As a teenager, I was taught frequently about sex in school.

Why shouldn't drugs and alcohol be treated the same way?

As our generation has aged, we have been conditioned to buy into the dangers of drugs.

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As a Christian, it is disturbing to read that a woman who uses the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis (kaneh bosm/marijuana) for glaucoma is confronted and has a child take from her ("Mother vows to fight abuse, drug charges," Nov. 5).

Politicians and voters need to fix this sin, since Christ God our father, the ecologician, indicates He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page of the Bible (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30).

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NASHVILLE - Tennessee lawmakers heard testimony today on legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana, although the idea has failed in the General Assembly before and its future is uncertain. A bill sponsored by former state Sen. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was rejected by a Senate committee last year before being pushed off to a summer study committee.

Members of the House Health and Human Resources Committee heard testimony on a similar bill sponsored by Rep. Sherry Jones, a Nashville Democrat.

Opponents of the bill, including law enforcement and family advocates, say current research does not show that marijuana is an effective and safe drug for treating symptoms of chronic illnesses.

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Prescription drug abuse is on the rise with college students and society as a whole, and online pharmacies have made prescription drugs more accessible, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Ramon Ryan, a medical review officer and doctor of internal medicine, said he believes that as a whole, "Our society has become more drug oriented."

Ryan said many people look to prescription drugs just to get through the day. "People will take amphetamines to stay awake all day then barbiturates at night to get to sleep," Ryan said.

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If Suzette Evans lived in North Carolina, where marijuana possession is decriminalized, it's unlikely she'd have gotten more than a $50 citation when police found a pipe in her home.

In Grainger County, however, like most of Tennessee, possession of a marijuana pipe can cost nearly $1,000 - and your children.

Evans' 15-year-old son was taken away from her the night of Aug. 10, to remain in protective custody for 34 days. They are reunited now, after a special meeting with the Department of Children's Services, but a hearing set for Nov. 16 will determine whether Evans' medicinal use of marijuana constitutes child abuse, neglect or endangerment.

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A table in front of Citizen Police Academy students was covered in drugs -- everything from Ecstasy to LSD, along with paraphernalia used to do drugs and common items people use to hide them.

Agents Daryl Pace and Brad Crowe gave the students a crash course in drugs, beginning with a video of police using undercover agents to bust several sales.

Crowe, who worked 12 years with the Clarksville Police Department Drug Unit, said that no matter what anybody thinks, drug use "is a problem."

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Millions of people are sentenced to prison correctional facilities every year because a variety of criminal charges, but Lindsay Lohan walks away unfettered from cocaine possession due to her fame and fortune. What kind of message is this sending to society?

Many celebrities over the years have used their fame and success as a way of avoiding actual consequences for their reckless behavior. Their carefree conduct and persuasive personalities have repeatedly factored over the years in various cases. Whether it's O.J. Simpson's murder trial or Hugh Grant's prostitute scandal, the justice system seems to favor these rich individuals by merely giving them a warning before patting them on the head and releasing them back into society. Both of these gentlemen and many more celebrities have been acquitted of all charges against them and set free, but the justice system finally has began to crack it's crude whip on celebrities such as Martha Stewart, Paris Hilton and most recently, Michael Vick.

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Matthew Adair is to be commended for raising awareness of the Higher Education Act's denial of student loans to youth convicted of drug offenses ["Say 'No' to Cutting Student Aid," Oct. 18]. Instead of empowering at-risk students with a college degree, HEA limits career opportunities and increases the likelihood that those affected will resort to crime. Speaking of crime, convicted rapists and murders are still eligible for federal student loans.

Most students outgrow their youthful indiscretions involving illicit drugs. An arrest and criminal record, on the other hand, can be life-shattering. After admitting to smoking pot (but not inhaling), former President Bill Clinton opened himself up to "soft on drugs" criticism. And thousands of Americans have paid the price in the form of shattered lives. More Americans went to prison or jail during the Clinton administration than during any past administration.

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The number of college students being caught with drugs nationwide has been rapidly increasing over the past few years, according to officials.

Not only are these students facing criminal charges, but their access to education may be limited if they are convicted. Enacted in 2000, the Aid Elimination Penalty provision of the Higher Education Act states that federal aid may be taken from any student that is convicted of any drug-related charge.

John Delaney, vice chancellor of student development, said that the law is "rather half-baked. Students are expected to self-report their status when they apply for federal financial aid." According to Delaney, "There is not a good working mechanism for the application of this law.

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We're told a great number of things are important as we're growing up: a good work ethic, the ability to listen and a strong sense of proper hygiene, for instance. Topping the list, though, is honesty. Without honesty, we're told, we can't have anything else. Families, businesses, even countries are unable to function if we cannot depend on knowing that we are speaking the truth to one another.

With that said, we should be appalled to know that our government is lying to us, the students of this university, as well as schools across the country. It isn't even that we are being lied to, but that, by lying to us and spreading misinformation, thousands of students are being denied access to financial aid to help pay for a college education.

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They marched by the thousands Thursday in Jena, La., to protest a terrible injustice against six teenagers there, and rightfully so. As the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous April 16, 1963, Letter from the Birmingham Jail, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Now that the injustice toward those six young African-American teenagers in Louisiana has been brought to the nation's attention, it's time for those of us in Tennessee and elsewhere around the United States to move toward protesting another gross injustice that's been hanging around for far too long.

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To the Editor:

Tennessee lawmakers sought an end-around on self-incrimination in 2005 when they became the 23rd state legislature to enact a tax on the possession of illegal drugs. Fortunately, the appeals court saw through this and overturned the tax as "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable." ("Bredesen has doubts about tax on illegal drugs," Sept. 14)

Do I find the tax arbitrary? Not really. It seems to have a built-in target market. Do I find it capricious? Yes, if you mean that it was an impulsive and not-well-thought-out attempt to take advantage of people who are prone to a specific sort of "questionable" behavior; has a lower burden of proof than the criminal possession of the actual substance does; and only offers a very short means of redress (48 hours) to make it hard to satisfy the conditions of the law.

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The closure of a major, Midstate drug-trafficking organization will keep some drugs off the street in Murfreesboro, the city's top cop said Friday.

"What you saw (Thursday) was a large-scale operation put out of business," police Chief Glenn Chrisman said. "They took some major players out of the game."

The supply chain interruption will curb sales on local streets immediately, he added.

More than 300 officers from 60 agencies executed 22 search warrants on businesses and homes in Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Davidson counties. Federal agents made 27 arrests.

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To the Editor:

While the Metro police might celebrate the fact that the cocaine supply is down in Nashville, they're faced with an inescapable economic reality.

Tighter supplies drive up prices, as police spokesman Don Aaron acknowledged has been the case, and higher prices will draw more suppliers to the area hoping to make a bigger profit ("Supply of cocaine shrinks in Nashville," Sept. 14).

So, as Aaron might see the tight supply as a good thing, it's a short-sighted celebration. In the long term, the potential for greater profit is likely to see an increase in cocaine's availability in Nashville.

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NASHVILLE -- A recent Court of Appeals ruling may end Tennessee's tax on illegal drugs, Gov. Phil Bredesen and state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr said Thursday.

But Sen. Randy McNally, who sponsored the bill creating the tax when it was enacted in 2005, said he remains hopeful that the Legislature can approve a revised version to eliminate any "constitutional shortcomings," even if the court ruling stands.

A three-judge Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously Sept. 7 that the "unauthorized substances tax" -- often called the "crack tax" -- violates the state constitution.

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Cocaine Supply In Cities Has Dropped, DEA Says

Finally, some good news regarding the international war on drugs. A Drug Enforcement Administration analysis shows the cocaine supply in more than two dozen large cities, including Nashville, has dropped. Such cities serve as distribution sites for the rest of the country.

DEA intelligence agents are crediting a crackdown in Mexico by President Felipe Calderon with the decrease. He sent in 3,000 troops to break up two drug cartels that were engaged in a turf war.

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Appeals Judges Uphold Lower Court, Finds Tax-Stamp Unconstitutional

Drug dealers won a round against the tax man with a Tennessee Court of Appeals ruling this week striking down the so-called "crack tax." In a unanimous decision Thursday, a three-judge panel upheld a lower court decision declaring unconstitutional a law that requires dealers of drugs like cocaine, marijuana and even moonshine to buy a tax stamp or face hefty fines and confiscation of assets.

Despite the ruling, Tennessee intends to continue enforcing the law while appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court, said Sophie Moery, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Revenue. Since the Unauthorized Substance Tax was enacted in January 2005, the Revenue Department has sold 981 tax stamps, some to stamp collectors, and taken in a total of $6.8 million arising from 3,818 cases, she said. Three-fourths of the money goes to local law enforcement agencies for drug education and enforcement, she said.

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You can tax sin, but you can't tax crime.

So concludes the state Court of Appeals in striking down as unconstitutional the state's Unauthorized Substance Tax Act, more commonly known as the "crack tax." In an opinion delivered Friday by Appellate Judge Sharon G. Lee, the court joined a growing list of chancellors across the state in declaring the crack tax unconstitutional. But it did so from an entirely different angle, thus sidestepping what has been the primary legal beef with the tax. Rather than address whether the tax violates an alleged drug dealer's rights to due process and against self-incrimination, the court instead determined that the tax itself is unconstitutional.

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Saturday of education about drugs was culminated by a heart-wrenching talk from former meth addict David Parnell of Martin.

Parnell spoke for a solid 90 minutes about his drug history, starting with marijuana and leading to other drugs, especially meth. Parnell is married and he and wife Amy have seven children. He almost died twice, first as the result of attempting to hang himself and a second time when he put a shotgun under his chin and pulled the trigger. Amy knocked the barrel just as it was going off and the blast tore away the front of his face. He has undergone several surgeries including periodically having to have his jaw rebroken and put back together.

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