Medical marijuana is 100 percent completely legal - however, only in a synthetic form of which there are many versions. Look at the Controlled Substance Act.

How insane it is that our government imprisons, takes away parents from their children, and destroys the lives of hard-working every-day Americans by the hundreds of thousands every year because they utilize organic marijuana instead of that prescribed by physicians.

According to Barry McCaffrey, the former federal drug czar, organic marijuana is much healthier for you because of its many natural beneficial compounds that can help people - especially suffering from muscular-selector type ailments and arthritic problems.

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Residents of the Triad need not be concerned there will be a surge of federal prisoners convicted for crack cocaine being released ("Officers wary of crack releases," Dec. 15). Although the U.S. Sentencing Commission shortened the guideline sentences for crack cocaine and made the changes retroactive, the lengthy mandatory minimum sentences for these crimes, enacted by Congress, have not changed.

For a crime involving at least 5 grams of crack, the mandatory minimum is five years. For at least 10 grams, it is 10 years.

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Roundtables Were Correct: Port Huron Can't Afford This Sacred Cow

If you need an example of why governments are so often in financial hot water, look no further than the simmering controversy over the DARE program in Port Huron.

In September, the cash-strapped city decided to end its subsidy for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. It seemed a prudent decision, if only because DARE is a notorious feel-good program. Study after study has shown DARE is approximately as beneficial as trying to help a drowning man by hiring a cheerleader to wave pompoms and urge him to swim harder.

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After another trip to my local pharmacy to buy my husband his much needed allergy medication, I have come to the conclusion that this ridiculous law requiring photo ID and a one box limit per 15-day period for allergy and cold medication is ridiculous. It certainly isn't stopping the criminals from manufacturing illegal drugs. Surprisingly, they manage to supply their drug without any problems, as you can see if you watch a newscast or pick up a paper.

It is affecting the citizens that need this medication. With gas at $3 a gallon, I can't buy three or four boxes at a time to have a two-month supply. I must buy a 15-day box at a time. While it is great for the retailer - I have to go to their store on a regular basis - it is not so great for the general public. And you want to know what's really sad? The pharmacist said that in the length of time it took him to enter my ID, for me to sign and accept the law, move over to the cash register and ring up my purchase, he could have filled two or three other prescriptions.

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We Must Gang Up On Gang Terrorists

While the overall crime rate has decreased in Florida, according to Attorney General Bill McCollum, gang-related crimes are increasing "substantially." That's a reality of great concern to medium-sized cities such as Tallahassee as well as to large urban areas where gangs are regrettably more a part of the streetscape.

The capital city saw a spike in gang activity this past year with the Tallahassee Police Department reporting some 150 to 200 young people thought to be involved in gangs - including more and more girls. The Department of Juvenile Justice says gangs are recruiting youngsters as young as 10 years old.

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Ten members of an 11-seat pot panel were appointed this morning by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, with the lone remaining seat open because the Denver district attorney's office declined to participate.

The appointments fulfill a mandate created by the passage of Initiated Question 100 in November's Denver election.

More than half -- 57 percent -- of Denver voters favored the initiative, making marijuana the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.

"We commend Mayor Hickenlooper for appointing the Marijuana Policy Review Panel and taking a step toward a more rational marijuana policy in Denver," said Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER, a marijuana-reform group which spearheaded the ordinance.

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I am disappointed by "Dare to end the DARE program" [Editorial, Dec. 6], which all but celebrates the impending demise of DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in Suffolk.

I cannot speak to the so-called national and local studies that claim the program failed in its mission to decrease long-term drug use. Yet, I can attest to this: As an elementary schoolteacher until my retirement in 2006, whose students were involved in DARE since its inception almost 20 years ago, along with its later counterpart, the STARE (Stop Anti-Semitism and Racism Everywhere) program, I can confidently say that both were meritorious.

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Yes, addicts will be addicts. Yes, I've heard of adults huffing paint, shooting Viagra, smoking crumbs from the carpet and even, occasionally, of somebody abusing "bupe" - all in a desperate search for any kind of high to substitute for their elusive drug of choice. But let's get real: No hard-core (or any-core) addicts are seriously seeking Suboxone for steady consumption.

And The Sun fails to offer any convincing evidence of widespread abuse of the drug other than anecdotal comments from attention-seeking abusers and disgruntled doctors.

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A former Kula Intermediate and High School athletic director and vice principal wants his name cleared, after having been arrested in connection with drug-related charges but never prosecuted.

The case stems from a raid conducted in April in Moloa'a by the Kaua'i police that was dropped against the former educator, David Rojeck, 42.

Police said the raid yielded 50 marijuana plants, processed marijuana and drug paraphernalia from a home shared by two of the school's employees.

Roommates and Kula Intermediate and High School associates Rojeck and Alan Bertolino, 43, the school's eighth-grade physical science teacher, were arrested as a result.

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Not a day goes by that I don't read the Daily News and every day there are numerous people with their names listed in it because they committed various drug offenses.

My question to all the drug war proponents is what good has the drug war really done?

It has managed to cost the taxpayers billions of dollars of hard-earned money with no real benefit.

If the drug war ended today, we would see a drastic drop in crime, from theft by drug addicts who no longer would have to pay a small fortune to obtain their drugs to murders that only happened because of a drug deal gone bad.

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The Sun's series on the abuses of buprenorphine distorts the true picture of an extremely promising therapy for heroin addiction. Given the high social costs of addiction, the United States has embraced buprenorphine as an effective treatment, after carefully examining the experience of France and other countries. And a number of extraordinary controls guide the use of buprenorphine in this country.

As a result, buprenorphine is extremely safe when used properly. And thousands of people use buprenorphine appropriately and therefore safely. It has helped them turn around their lives.

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A Rescue Mission for New York's Governor

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's approval rating is at an all-time low of 36%, according to a recent survey conducted by the Siena College Research Institute. This is a far cry from his 69% approval rating when he took office. The survey polled about one thousand voters in December, of which 47% said the governor should become a "kinder, gentler governor." But 41% of Republicans said they doubt whether the transformation can be made.

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In The Sun's recent series of articles on buprenorphine, the many positive aspects of buprenorphine seem to have been lost in the overwhelming focus on its negatives. The first and most important of these positive aspects is the number of studies that have shown how effective the medication is at helping people stop using heroin and prescription pain killers.

The diversion of buprenorphine, although an issue, must be put in the context of the illicit sale of other medications - for instance, there is even a black market for antibiotics and asthma inhalers.

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The power to destroy does not carry within it the power to control. A century of failed colonial rule and the American misadventure in Vietnam etched that lesson on global consciousness for a time. It has taken the huge problems that affluent, nuclear-armed nations are encountering in the miserable ruins of Afghanistan and Iraq to drive it home anew.

Call it the paradox of overwhelming but insufficient force. It is surfacing in a struggle in Afghanistan over the wisdom of chemically eradicating that nation's expanding poppy fields. They are the source of (1) the livelihoods of many Afghan peasants, (2) a record flood of heroin into Western markets and (3) funding for the Taliban and other terrorist forces.

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DEA Warnings Counter City's Compassionate Care Tradition, Mayor Asserts

OAKLAND -- Mayor Ron Dellums has asked a long-time former colleague, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to investigate the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's use of "threatening letters" to target medical cannabis dispensaries throughout California, including at least one in Oakland.

The DEA has sent hundreds of letters to people who own property on which cannabis dispensaries are operating. A DEA official called the notices a "courtesy" even though they threaten landlords with imprisonment and property forfeiture.

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Look at the numbers for teenage cigarette smoking. Now look at the numbers for teenage marijuana use. Folks, there's a lesson here.

Last week, President Bush touted new survey results showing a modest drop in teen use of marijuana and other drugs, but he failed to mention the drug for which prevention efforts have had the most spectacular success -- tobacco. If he had, he might have had to make some troubling comparisons.

Bush noted that drug use has declined from its recent peak in 1996, but sidestepped the longer-term picture that doesn't look nearly so rosy.

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Cancer Opens One's Eyes to the Many Facets of Marijuana.

Ahh, cancer. One learns so much from being diagnosed with a death-sentence disease. Of course, 95% of it is stuff you would rather not know, but that other 5% is downright interesting. For example, "America's Next Top Model" is much more fun to watch when you've lost 15 pounds without trying. During chemotherapy, vanilla smells good, but vanilla wafers taste disgusting. And eyelashes really do have a purpose; without them, my eyes are a dust magnet.

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Not one person. Despite pages of text arguing that the misuse of buprenorphine is a crisis, The Sun interviewed nobody in Maryland whose initial or primary problem is abuse of the medication ("The 'bupe fix,'" Dec. 16-18). Not one good comparison. The Sun provided no information to help readers contrast the street market for buprenorphine with our major heroin problem or with the diversion of more addictive, more lethal and less regulated drugs, such as OxyContin.

Not one stereotype of drug treatment left out.

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LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan's November 2008 ballot could become a bit more crowded, possibly including proposals to provide universal health care coverage and allow marijuana use for medical purposes.

Those proposals, among others, took procedural steps forward Wednesday with action by a state elections panel.

Other possible petition drives in the works would create a part-time Legislature in Michigan and require a statewide vote to raise certain taxes, a proposal that also could repeal tax increases put in place this year.

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First, the good news: Fewer young people are using illegal drugs.

The Associated Press, citing a University of Michigan study, reports about 13 percent of all eighth graders used an illegal drug sometime during the past year.

In 1996, 24 percent did it.

There was a particularly big drop in marijuana use.

Fewer young people experimenting with drugs means there may not be as many adult addicts later.

Now the bad news: More young people are, however, abusing prescription painkillers, the article reported.

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