I am surprised you saw fit to publish Rick Bell's offensive op-ed on May 14, where he refers to Calgary users of illegal drugs as "street-level scum," "parasites," "dirtbags," "vermin," and "dirt." Does the editorial board approve of such name-calling whose only purpose is to stoke hatred and incite violence against your fellow citizens? This type of vilification has no place in a civilized society. Contrary to Bell's intemperate and foul comments, open season has not been declared on the least fortunate in society, even if he and you may wish for it. Harry Fisher (Bell was referring to the most dastardly, not the least fortunate.) [end]
Bob Jones wrote to Joel Hartley (Letters, last week): 'Nice to hear you're having such a fine time smoking dope with no ill effects at 25. Now you be sure and get back to us when you're 50. If you ever get there.' Meanwhile, I'll stand in for Joel. I started at 18, and am now 63, still having a fine time smoking dope. Any questions? Harry Fisher Woodland Hills, California [end]
I completely agree with Howard J. Wooldridge, who in his May 7 letter pointed out that our Navy and Air Force pilots use amphetamines to help accomplish their longdistance missions. These drugs are a boon, and are most helpful when intensive work at full concentration over a long time is required. Amphetamines definitively have a role to play when used properly. Harry Fisher Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
Re: Barbara Kay vs. Mary Jane, editorial, May 23. I wholly agree with your ideas on cannabis. However, I feel I must correct an error in your editorial. Cannabis smokers do prefer to use only the plant's bud. Cultivators who have relatively large volumes at hand may boil down the leaves and concentrate the active ingredients for use in cooking. But for smoking? Only pure bud will do. Curiously, in Morocco they refer to the fine leaves that surround the flower as "the hashish," which is considered useless. The flower itself is called "keefee," meaning fun or relaxation. Where there's an abundance, only the best will do for smoking, cooking, tinctures or whatever. Buds, definitely. Harry Fisher, Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
Cameron MacLean wrote on 2/7: "A central tenet of our legal system is that in order for an act to be considered criminal, one must clearly show a victim." Even though this may seem obvious on the surface, it is in fact not true. Consider drunken driving, which is a crime even when no one is hurt. That said, I wholly agree with the writer concerning the lousy, cowardly treatment of Marc Emery by the Canadian authorities. Their duplicity is revolting. The authorities accepted without objection the taxes Emery paid - on the income generated by marijuana seeds, a popular product - and were glad to pocket the revenue they exacted from this young entrepreneur. But now, frightened by the United States, they are quivering and want to hand Emery over. The Canadian government has disgraced itself in its meek and obsequious acquiescence to the demands of a foreign power, and in the shameless betrayal of a citizen whose money it gladly took while the going was good. It will be a great shame on the Canadian people if they do not stop their government from the dishonorable conduct of handing Emery over to the U.S. drug warriors. The whole world is watching. Harry Fisher Woodland Hills, CA 91367 [end]
Wayne Laugesen's May 31 rant calling for Dr. Joel Becker's imprisonment is indicative of a mindset that wants to punish people for telling the truth. The psychologist had said to high school students: "I'm going to encourage you to have sex, and I'm going to encourage you to use drugs appropriately (resounding applause from kids). And why I'm going to take that position is because you're going to do it anyway." What is wrong with this? Is it not better to face problems realistically than to live in a fantasy world? High school students do, in fact, have sex and use illegal drugs. It is a more rational approach to try to lessen the potential harm that such activities can cause rather than sticking one's head in the ground with zero-tolerance policies that are unenforceable and doomed to failure. Laugesen is not a help, but a hindrance in protecting the youth. Harry Fisher/Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
Youth counsellor Mike Robinson laments students' enthusiasm for the Marijuana Party during a "practice federal election" held in the area schools (letter to the editor, Feb. 3.) I expect the students cheered the alcohol party as well, possibly even the Tylenol party. What? There are no such parties? Could that be because those substances can be legally obtained and thus are stripped of youthful-rebellion potential? After decades of the government crying wolf concerning marijuana, it is not easy to discern exactly when the government tells the truth, and certainly the young people are suspicious of more or less well-meaning lies. Legalize marijuana and it will soon be seen as just another medication for the ill, the furthest possible from youthful "cool." It is prohibition that has elevated marijuana to cult-like status. Harry Fisher Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
In the letter Anti-Drug Message Important (Dec. 15), Dr. William G. Hobbs wrote: "Smoking one joint a day for 30 days will lower your IQ consistently." If we give Hobbs his head and assume that smoking one joint a day for an entire year will lower your IQ by a single point, then what will four joints a day for 30 years do? It must mean that my present IQ is in low flight somewhere between minus-30 and minus-20. [continues 54 words]
Dear Editor, Pretending to speak for "rural Nebraskans," Owen McPhillips wrote: "The drug legalization lobbyists can say whatever they want," and "They can cite statistics until the cows come home." Clearly, McPhillips has made up his mind and is not about to disturb it with any inconvenient facts. I would like to think that most "rural Nebraskans" are more fair-minded than that. Harry Fisher Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
In the December 2 issue of The Daily, Zainab al-Dhaher wrote: "As with all drugs, the low is indeed low." This is emphatically not the case with marijuana. There is simply no "low," only an absence. Perhaps this is because marijuana is not toxic like other drugs people use. No one has ever overdosed on marijuana and died. The whole point of marijuana, and other psychoactive drugs such as mescaline and LSD, is the subjective experience of an altered consciousness. We may see or hear the same things as before, but our interpretation changes. This is not intellectual and sensual impoverishment, but enhancement, and it has its place among things humans enjoy. It is said the councils of the ancient Teutonic tribes would debate important issues twice before coming to a decision, once drunk and once sober, and that the Scythians would throw sheaves of ripe cannabis on bonfires and stand around and inhale the smoke while cheering loudly. [continues 186 words]
Editor: Tim Felger's Christians-and-lions comment (The Times, Oct. 1) certainly caused a ruckus, and perhaps his choice of words was unfortunate in our current sensitive zeitgeist. He did make other points in his letter, but those have been drowned out by the outrage over the religious reference. Phil Lacasse wrote (The Times, Oct. 8) in answer to Felger: "Marijuana is not a victimless crime. Every grow operation is a danger to the entire community it is located in. Fires, "grow-rips" and the infusion of unwanted persons affects communities. The violence and related criminal activity are not victimless." [continues 149 words]
Re: Addicts' clinic will hold us constant hostages to fear, July 17. Letter-writer Sherie Purie complained about the location of Dr. Jeff Daiter's methadone clinic in downtown Ottawa. She described a fear-filled scenario, concluding that "it is totally unfair to expose senior citizens, children and women to what could become a potentially dangerous street when there are so many other viable options." Ms. Purie does not mention one threatening act by methadone clinic patients to lend even the slightest credence to this paranoia. In fact, these patients are much like other patients at clinics for "respectable" illnesses. She would benefit from trying to overcome her prejudices. Then she might become less fearful, and live better. Harry D. Fisher, Woodland Hills, California [end]
Instead of complaining about how prosecutors are treating Rush Limbaugh (editorial page, March 26), Roy Black would do better to criticize the laws that make such prosecutions possible. Mr. Black decries common prosecutorial drug-war tactics that have put hundreds of thousands of users and sellers in prison. People are regularly locked up for many years for far less than Mr. Limbaugh's alleged offenses, their lives shattered, their families left to suffer. When will we realize that this is unnecessary and does more harm than the drugs themselves? Harry D. Fisher Woodland Hills, Calif. [end]
Dear Editor, Frank Sterle, Jr., claims to suffer permanent damage to his body and mind because of smoking pot [Letters to the Editor, June 24, Langley Advance News]. I see that one of the defects seems to be making up things and then fighting against them. Despite Sterle's charges, no one has ever said that marijuana is harmless, neither to "impressionable" youth nor to such adults. As every intoxicant, pot must be used with prudence. After all, not everybody who drinks Chianti and a Cognac digestive with dinner is likely to wind up on Skid Row with vomit on their pants. In the same manner, most pot smokers enjoy the weed without family-shattering and budget-busting consequences. Frank is just blowing propaganda. Harry D. Fisher Woodland Hills, California, USA [end]
I agree wholeheartedly with your editorial ("Drug laws: Melton can't play judge, jury, too," May 22) about the need for equal enforcement of the laws in the matter of Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Director Frank Melton's "leniency" toward some drug offenders. Selective enforcement and selective leniency are equally repugnant and a denial of our equality before the law. The law is not Mr. Melton's to play with, nor to any single man, no matter what position he holds. All must be equal before the law. Harry D. Fisher Woodland Hills, CA. [end]
Editor, The Star: Rob Wilton's tirade against marijuana (5/8) contains some puzzling statements. He writes: "Some short-sighted people believe they have a right to consume whatever they want because it is their bodies. Well, they have the same rights as I to not to wear a seat-belt while driving, or a helmet while riding a motorcycle. Smoking pot is not an activity isolated to the user." But this example shows that it is isolated to the user. Not wearing a seat belt hurts the driver, not whatever he impacts. The same goes with the helmet. [continues 128 words]
CANADA NEED not worry that the U.S. will impede the border traffic if Canada decriminalizes marijuana. That's all bluff. If there's anything that outweighs the drug warriors and their morality concerns, it's the power of American business and its money. It's beyond the reach of the Drug Enforcement Administration to interfere with the billions of dollars in cross-border trade that enrich Canadians and Americans alike. For all their chest-puffing and moralistic posturing, American politicians are keenly attuned to the economy of their constituencies and vigorously defend their businesses. Any attempt to cripple our own economy by hindering trade with Canada because of your marijuana laws is sure to boomerang into the drug warriors' faces. It will not help to put American workers out of jobs and cause businesses to fold because of the fanatical pursuit of a drug-free America that is unattainable. Harry D. Fisher, Woodland Hills, California (All we know is we can't bring oranges across the border.) [end]
Dear Editor, Frank G. Sterle, Jr., wrote "People with schizophrenia who consumed a lot of cannabis had a much worse outcome than those who didn't." [Harmless assumptions legitimized, April 25 Letters to the Editor, Langley Advance News] I don't believe those patients smoked cannabis in order to feel worse, not better. Obviously, here the term "outcome" has a different meaning for the patient than for the doctor, unlike in illnesses like an inflamed appendix. There is no doubt about the "outcome" of an appendicitis: either you have surgery or die. [continues 138 words]
RE: DEC. 23 editorial. The Sun is far too fearful, and also somewhat naive, to believe the U.S. will impede border traffic if Canada decriminalizes marijuana. If there's anything that outweighs the drug warriors and their morality concerns, it's the power of American business and its money. It's beyond the reach of the drug enforcement agency to interfere with the billions of dollars in cross-border trade that enrich Canadians and Americans alike. For all their moralistic posturing, American politicians are keenly attuned to the economy of their constituencies and vigorously defend their businesses. Any attempt to cripple our own economy by hindering trade with Canada because of your marijuana laws is sure to boomerang into the drug warriors' faces. Already, large numbers of Americans believe our government's position on marijuana is overkill, and that the drug laws need to be revised. Harry D. Fisher, Woodland Hills, California (The U.S. can still crack down on Canadians border-hopping on vacation.) [end]
Betty Kruk wrote on 10/16: "If I were on my deathbed, in severe pain, I would not want to smoke marijuana to relieve that pain. I would not be so selfish as to want something made legal which will cause great harm to young people and others who become addicts." Does she also want to do away with morphine, codeine, Demerol, Fentanyl, and all the other legal narcotic analgesics used to alleviate pain caused by illness and surgery? After all, some people do get addicted to them, no? [continues 67 words]
