Pubdate: Thu, 29 May 2003
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2003 Tallahassee Democrat.
Contact:  http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Conrad Newman

THE DANGER OF ALCOHOL, THE PROBLEM WITH PROHIBITION

Re: "The Ganja Guru: If only truth could set him free" by Myriam Marquez 
(column, May 27).

Myriam Marquez points out vividly how justice is not only blind but also 
monumentally stupid at times. The only shortcoming of her argument was that 
she omitted one important fact.

Marquez says, "While certainly not healthy to the lungs and the body if 
abused, (marijuana) comes nowhere close to the severe medical effects and 
societal chaos that, say, cocaine or heroine can cause." She's right on 
that account, but fails to mention the drug that causes far more severe 
medical effects and societal chaos than all other drugs: alcohol.

Ask any police officer if alcohol isn't the fuel behind more robberies, 
murders, traffic deaths, suicides and domestic violence than marijuana.

Don't be fooled by the current spate of government antimarijuana 
advertisements. The one that purports to follow the trail from the teen 
buying a joint to a murder somewhere neglects to take the logic to the 
final step: No murder would have occurred if marijuana weren't illegal, as 
we quickly learned from Prohibition.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens