Re "Health gets lost in pot debate," Oct. 10 Groups pushing to legalize marijuana are not claiming the drug is harmless. Indeed, many believe any harm associated with marijuana is an argument for taxing and regulating it. Surveys indicate that teens can more readily purchase marijuana than buy alcohol. Instead of hoping that drug dealers will "card" their customers and not offer them more dangerous drugs, let's implement a system we know works: tax and regulate for adult use. Neither have legalization groups lost sight of the health effects of marijuana use. It's just that the harm associated with a drug, food or activity is insufficient reason for prohibiting it. Thus, alcohol, tobacco, unprotected sex and never exercising are all legal. Sarah Lovering Venice [end]
Re: the Ventura County Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee's Sept. 25 commentary "Prop. 19 a bad law for California": Sheriff Bob Brooks and his law enforcement colleagues were either wildly uninformed or intentionally dishonest when they implied that marijuana's social cost is anywhere near that of alcohol and tobacco, both of which are far more harmful than marijuana. Just last year, a Canadian study published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal found that the healthcare costs for alcohol users are eight times higher than those for marijuana users. The cost for tobacco users is 40 times higher. [continues 154 words]
