Pubdate: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 Source: Quad-City Times (IA) Section: Opinion, Page A11, Letters To The Editor, above fold Copyright: 2002 Quad-City Times Contact: http://www.qctimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/857 Author: Joseph Sanders Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign) MARIJUANA POLICIES SHOULD BE SANER Coming next month, Congress will begin holding hearings concerning our intelligence/security agencies' failures to spot the terrorists before the tragedy. The CIA will hide behind national security while evading the question of why they had not one agent inside Afghanistan, while the FBI will blame miscommunication as a problem they are solving. And we all hope they are indeed. But one fact that may not be discussed publicly is the immediate reaction the FBI took once the planes had crashed. Within hours, they had taken 1,600 agents off the drug war and put them on the war on terror. So unlike the new anti-drug commercials that try to blame drug users as supporting terrorists, what may have been their biggest support came from an agency much more interested in pot smokers than investigating flight schools. Here's one American who is hoping that we'll have a national dialogue on legalizing at least medical marijuana. ...Since the majority of arrests in this war on drugs is against marijuana users, just think of the agents who could be freed to stop the terrorists before they get another chance. Should we adopt a saner policy towards marijuana? Joseph Sanders Clinton - --- MAP posted-by: Beth