Pubdate: Thu, 02 Feb 2012
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Richard Copp
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n054/a08.html

OH, HO, HO, IT'S MAGIC ...

Re "Magic number: zero" (SN&R Letters, January 19):

I'm not positive what song was on the radio at the time, but the 
innocent driver who was exiting [Interstate 5] and hit head-on by a 
stoned driver entering the wrong way would beg to differ with the 
writer's statistical analysis of deaths due to marijuana "usage."

According to the [California Highway Patrol] report, blood-alcohol 
tests taken after this "accident" failed to detect any alcohol in the 
stoner's blood. The report also documents the stoner admitted to 
smoking marijuana moments before he drove his vehicle. ...

You might say "Apples and oranges, man. Smoking didn't kill the 
innocent driver; smoking and driving did, man." Au contraire, DUI 
breath. It's still driving under the influence.

By the way, I'm for the legalization of marijuana. However, I think 
blanket (irresponsible) statements like "zero deaths in over 5,000 
years of documented usage" are not only false, but also set the 
(legalization) movement back even further.

Richard Copp

Sacramento
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom