To the editor:

It seems rather sad to me that the measure to decriminalize marijuana has once again been voted down by the residents of Alaska. It appears that the degree of failure that this ballot measure has experienced is mostly a result of two large factors: the inability of most Alaskans to consider the facts of the issue, and an intrinsically uncompromising and paranoid American frame of mind.

When I was 20 years old, I moved to the Netherlands. I lived there from 1999 through 2001. Admittedly, I was quite shocked in the beginning of my stay in that country at the degree of liberalism and openness with which the Dutch live. However, even at a relatively young age I quickly realized that my feelings and thoughts about issues such as marijuana use were molded entirely by the uptight, conservative American society I was raised in.

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