Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jul 2009
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Website: http://www.drugsense.org

LETTER OF THE WEEK

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING ABOUT MARIJUANA POLICY?

By Charles Johnson

To the Editor:

I was very disappointed to receive a letter from our congressman, 
Republican Randy Forbes, recently in which he stated he is 
unalterably opposed to marijuana legalization for medicinal or 
recreational use.  I was mostly disappointed, because in his letter 
he was not familiar with drug classification in the United States by 
the Drug Enforcement Agency.  He referred to cocaine/crack as a 
schedule I narcotic and looped it in with meth, PCP, marijuana, 
heroin and, as he put it, 100 other schedule I narcotics.

Marijuana is a Schedule I narcotic, however cocaine, even in its form 
as crack, is a schedule II narcotic, according to the Drug 
Enforcement Agency.  This is one of the reasons we should be reaching 
out to our representatives and citizens.  I think education and 
awareness is the best way to resolve this part of the war on drugs. 
Everyone knows cocaine/crack is worse than marijuana. I have seen 
physical addiction and overdoses first hand.

I have never seen a marijuana overdose or heard of physical addiction 
to marijuana. I think any person who assumes the unalterable position 
that marijuana is worse than crack cannot be effective in resolving 
drug issues. I was also disappointed to hear him say; "Federal Health 
Officials believe that the public is better served if science, rather 
than the ballot box or the courts, were used to judge a drug's utility."

I didn't vote for a guy who wanted to do what he thought would be 
best for the constituency. I voted for a guy who would listen to and 
represent the wishes of the constituency with an open mind and from 
an informed perspective.  Republicans who share this unalterable 
view, such as Republican Rep. Mark Kirk from Chicago who has called 
for federal legislation to sentence certain first-time marijuana 
offenders to up to 25 years in prison, are very disturbing. Locking 
up non-violent people and throwing away the key is immoral.

What's more disturbing is that citizens in our communities are being 
encouraged to spy on each other and threatened. They are told to be 
on the look out and contact private e-mail addresses if they see 
marijuana growing on their property or someone else's, otherwise, 
they could lose their property through forfeiture laws. Marijuana 
users are also portrayed as evil doers who smoke marijuana in front 
of their children.  A lot of people would say if you use tobacco or 
drink in front of your children you're a bad parent. I personally do 
not share that point of view. It is a matter of personal freedom and 
it's time for the elected officials to listen, learn and represent 
the citizens.

There is a lot of stepped up rhetoric about marijuana these days. I 
hope most people are too smart to listen to the William Randolph 
Hearst propaganda tactics.  This is 2009 not 1932. There were 50,000 
alcohol poisonings in the United States last year.  There were 
435,000 deaths from tobacco, 7,600 from non-steroidal 
anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and 0 overdoses or poisonings 
from marijuana.  I cannot believe our elected leaders don't have 
anything better to do. They encourage us to spy on each other and 
report back to them. They threaten us with up to 25 years in prison 
for non-violent offenses.  They deny citizens who are seriously ill a 
little comfort and relief from pain. To take an unalterable and 
uninformed position on other people's freedoms, privacy and comfort 
is unacceptable and we need to vote these elected officials out.

Charles Johnson

Dinwiddie County

Pubdate: Thu, 2 Jul 2009

Source: Progress-Index, The (VA) 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake