Pubdate: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 Source: West Hawaii Today (HI) Copyright: 2008 West Hawaii Today Contact: http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/contact_us/letters/ Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/644 Author: Donald Gross Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n1032.a02.html CHIEF'S COMMENT A Dangerous Position Recently our police chief stated: "If you're pro-drug, or pro-marijuana, you're automatically pro-terrorist." Please tell me he was misquoted. He's probably correct that "some terrorists profit from the sale of illegal drugs like marijuana," but an illogical conclusion like that would brand us all terrorists for consuming oil -- a commodity that funnels major amounts of money to radical terrorist causes. Does Chief Mahuna realize that the poppy fields of Afghanistan (the source of huge amounts of heroin in this country) are ignored by U.S. forces because of the intricate relationship between the Afghan warlords and the occupying forces there? Using the word "terrorist" to label those opposed to one's views has become the new "communist" for those of us old enough to remember McCarthyism. Lumping all illegal drugs together is a naive and dangerous position for someone who is in charge. Does he also have a medical degree that no one knows about? He said, "I may have seen one (medical certificate) that was in compliance" out of more than 1,300 medical marijuana users on this island. Has he really reviewed all 1,300? And he's also a religious leader who professes to know that God(s) doesn't want anybody to be stoned. Where does he get this stuff? Chief Mahuna must still be living in a "plantation" society, where governance comes down from above. The will of the people doesn't seem to matter. To support his opposition to the recently approved initiative, he compares domestic violence to pot use. Again, I hope he was misquoted, because this sort of fallacious thinking only makes intelligent discussion impossible. As signified by the recent elections in our country, hopefully, we are entering a progressive era of government, where the politics of stupid and uninformed have been rejected in favor of the politics of intelligence, where decisions will be based on evidence and reasoned analysis rather than on "gut" feelings or the propaganda of yesteryear. "Reefer Madness" was not a documentary. If you don't like marijuana, then by all means don't use it -- there'll be more for the rest of us. Donald Gross Kailua-Kona - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin