Pubdate: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 Source: Los Angeles City Beat (CA) Copyright: 2004 Southland Publishing Contact: http://www.lacitybeat.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2972 Author: Kirk Muse Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1362/a02.html SHADES OF GRAY I'm writing about Bruce Mirken's thoughtful letter: "Glaring Omission" [Re: Letters, Sept. 23], about Senator Barbara Boxer's failure to support medical marijuana. Apparently Senator Boxer thinks cancer patients and other severely sick and dying patients should die in a federal prison cell instead of receiving the much-needed relief from medical marijuana. Since the annual obesity-vs.-marijuana kill ratio is about 400,000 to zero, perhaps Senator Boxer can tell us which obesity-causing foods we should criminalize first. If our government can arrest and jail us for using the wrong (politically selected) natural herbs and medicines, it can also arrest and jail us for eating the wrong (politically selected) foods. It seems that the only Senate candidate who understands the proper role of a free country's government is Judge Jim Gray, the Libertarian Party nominee. Kirk Muse Mesa, Arizona