Pubdate: Mon, 10 Mar 2003
Source: East Tennessean, The (TN Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The East Tennessean
Contact:  http://www.easttennessean.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2823
Author: Miles Cramer

ALCOHOL MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN MARIJUANA

Dear Editor,

Have you ever really wondered why smoking herb is a crime?

I read an article "Alcohol consumes night life" in the East Tennessean 
about Samara Litvack's justification for her abuse of the hazily joyful 
substance known as alcohol.

Forever has this substance been used in various forms of liquid to 
deteriorate inhibition and make life seem more fun than it actually is. 
Alcohol is the delightful serum that has killed many and savagely killed 
many more due to misjudged driving abilities.

How can this substance stay legal and remain a staple in our social scenes?

Well, the almighty dollar wins again.

While you are drinking your beer for $3, the government, the bar owner and 
the beer companies are all having an orgy on top of your money.

Why dwell on the consequences when the dollars keep flowing in?

OK, now I am about to say a dirty word, so if you get offended easily you 
might want to skip the rest of this sentence: Marijuana.

The lovely green plant that has grown wild throughout this world for 
thousands of years, makes watching TV fun and the mass-produced fast food 
slop taste like your mother's home cooking.

A person can frequent a bar, each time leaving so mangled that they trip 
when they try to get in their car and people simply laugh.

Another person can enjoy their daily bong and they are quickly deemed a 
dirty stoner, losing all their credibility as an intelligent person.

How many people do you think have died from smoking pot?

Well aside from those 80-year-old potheads that die from lung cancer, none.

I would love to see a person overdose on marijuana; it would be very 
entertaining to watch someone smoke a pound by themselves in one sitting. 
They would most likely die of a heart attack from all the potato chips first.

In my personal experience with alcoholics, I have seen the transformation 
that a person goes through from sobriety to the consumption of each drink 
till the case is gone.

Your everyday peaceful Joe Shmoe turns into nothing shy of a gorilla in heat.

You know what a pothead turns into after the dime bag is gone? A couch.

As the drinker gets all riled up and ready to fight anything that moves; 
the pothead can't stop laughing at the Chihuahua with a bow on his head on 
Animal Planet.

It has always puzzled me why everyone gets so uptight about the idea of 
someone going home after a long day at school or work and rolling a joint. 
He isn't going anywhere.

He isn't going insane and unleashing a ballistic rampage on the community. 
He is relaxing in his chair and enhancing the music that is playing through 
his stereo.

All the music that we enjoy, at least all good music was created at some 
time after the band stopped and got high.

Music and weed go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you don't 
believe me, find a copy of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and turn it 
to the second track and listen.

Legalize it! Why not?

For you that don't want to smoke it, imagine all the extra money that the 
government would receive from marijuana taxation.

The beer and liquor companies know that they would be in financial danger, 
because if you could walk into a store and had a choice between a bottle of 
Jack Daniels that will lead you straight to the toilet or a pack of finely 
rolled northern lights, what would you choose?

Marijuana is more widely used than you would suspect. Many accomplished 
adults enjoy the sweet cheeba every once in a while. I know this for a fact.

Why should we restrict them or how do we even have the right when alcohol 
and the completely useless tobacco are bought and consumed at enormous rates.

I'm not saying that tobacco and alcohol should be illegalized, I'm just 
saying don't be so hard on your local long-haired, tie-dye wearer; they are 
people too.

Miles Cramer