Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: Spectrum, The (St.  George, UT )
Copyright: 2007 The Spectrum
Contact: http://www.thespectrum.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.thespectrum.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2483
Author: Garey L.  Bearden
Note: Garey L.  Bearden is a resident of Milford.  He is a member of 
The Spectrum & Daily News Writers Group.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON WERE NOT STONIES ONE LETTER ESPOUSED

My dictionary defines the word incredible as, "not credible, seeming too
unusual to be possible." That's what I thought when I read a letter to the
editor in the Oct.  25 issue of The Spectrum & Daily News.  It wasn't the
ideal the writer espoused that aroused my consternation, but the thought
process behind it.  That, and a glaring lack of historical knowledge or
perhaps just a misconception of history.

Included in the letter was a statement that, "God made a terrible mistake."

Now, I never dreamed that I would use this column to reply to one of these
letters to the editor when I began writing it, but this one just got to
me.  The lack of factual knowledge of or perhaps the misunderstanding of
history was appalling.  The letter was regarding cannabis and said, "God
made a terrible mistake when he created it.  In addition, George Washington
and Thomas Jefferson set poor examples by growing it themselves."

By his own words, the writer announced that he is a believer in God.  Well,
if he truly is, he has sinned by saying God "made a terrible mistake." If
one is a believer in God, then one must accept that God does not make
mistakes, and does everything for a reason.  Even if the reason is not
readily apparent to us mere mortals.

The writer then showed his deplorablelack of history when he referred to
"cannabis or hemp." He castigates two of the Founding Fathers for growing
it.  In doing this, he leaves the reader to conclude that Washington and
Jefferson were growing a product that was used to intoxicate
people.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The hemp grown in
colonial days was the first cash crop the people grew for export to the
home country, and the first seeds for the product were provided by the King
of England for that purpose.  The fact is the hemp grown by the colonists
was not the variety so popular these days for smoking, it was made
primarily into rope, which was critical for naval uses to a country engaged
in trying to dominate the world at that time.

The writer then states, "The government does not want billions of dollars
in tainted drug money." Baloney.  Our government would take a nickel from a
sewer if it could get its hands on it.

Finally, I have a hard time labeling cannabis users as "evil." I lean more
to giving that label to the sellers of the stuff.  I don't approve of the
noxious weed, but I am simply unable to stereotype pot smokers as evil.

If the writer, and others who might be influenced by his writing, would
consider some well-intended advice, they should put more effort into
eradicating the dealers and less into blaming God and shaming George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

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