Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 Source: South Bend Tribune (IN) Copyright: 2002 South Bend Tribune Contact: http://www.southbendtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/621 Authors: Rhonda Flanagan, Robert Sharpe, Mark Bales Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1055/a01.html ATTACK LETTER I am beginning to wonder what the motives are of the people who are in charge of picking letters for the Voice of the People. In the June 7 paper, there is a letter that is nothing more than a personal attack on a woman who wrote a few weeks ago about legalizing marijuana. The writer doesn't even back his obvious opinion against legalizing marijuana, he just questions the intelligence of the woman who wrote the first letter, and then wonders if she even has a job. Now the author of the first letter won't even be able to defend herself as The Tribune has a policy against letting someone reply when their letter has been criticized. I would like to ask those at the Tribune how they would like to have their intelligence questioned/assaulted, in the local paper, and then not be able to refute? The next thing you know, you'll be printing letters that say "my neighbor is a jerk, and his wife is ugly." Rhonda Flanagan Granger - ---------------------------------------- Drug Gravy Train What is this country coming to? A June 6 letter to the Voice of the People, written by a pastor no less, calls for public executions of drug offenders. I guess the writer never bothered to ask himself what Jesus would do. Drug prohibition does fund terrorism in countries like Colombia, but the drug war's collateral damage hardly justifies more of the same tough-on-drugs policies. The drugs-terror argument is nothing more than a shameless attempt by government bureaucrats to justify drug war budgets during a time of shifting national priorities. The illicit drug of choice in America is domestically grown marijuana, not Afghan heroin or Colombian cocaine. Drug war bureaucrats know this. The opportunistic drug-terror rhetoric coming out of Washington may lead Americans to mistakenly conclude that marijuana smokers are somehow responsible for Sept. 11. That's likely no accident. Taxing and regulating marijuana would derail the drug war gravy train. As long as marijuana remains illegal and distributed by organized crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with drugs like cocaine and heroin. Naturally the government bureaucrats whose jobs depend on a never-ending drug war prefer to blame the marijuana plant itself for the alleged "gateway" to hard drugs. Robert Sharpe, Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C. - ---------------------------------------- Real Criminals To the bloodthirsty pastor who would shoot drug users for so-called support of terrorists, I suggest he also advocate lining up his congregation and executing them. The real support of terrorism comes from Muslim oil-producing nations, not drug dealers. Using the pastor's twisted logic makes his church-goers the true traitors for filling their tanks with Arab oil and driving to church. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Pastor. Mark Bales Ligonier - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens