I've been thinking a lot lately about marijuana. No, it's not what you suspect, I don't smoke the stuff. Nor do I need it to alleviate pain. Rather, it's our country's schizophrenic way of dealing with "weed." Here in Stephenson County is In Grown Farms, which is perfectly legal and is growing marijuana plants to be harvested, packaged and sold at marijuana dispensaries as medicine. You need a doctor's prescription to get it. There hasn't been much controversy about it. Indeed, folks are happy that a new business decided to locate in the Freeport area. There's even talk -- perhaps far-out talk, but still -- of mixing marijuana, legally, with snack foods like pretzels or potato chips. Meanwhile, next door in Winnebago County, the county sheriff's police raided two fields, one near Durand, the other between Rockford and Winnebago, and found what they said was $1 million worth of marijuana plants. These plants were growing illegally. [continues 354 words]
I'm writing about your story, "Chicago area men accused of cannabis possession after hotel search," Dec. 9. I wonder if your police department has solved all your robberies and rapes? If not, why are they wasting their time and resources making petty pot busts? Why are the pot busts always in poor neighborhoods? Why don't they make pot busts in affluent neighborhoods like Woodside Drive or homes that back onto the Freeport Country Club fairways? Do the police think people who live in affluent neighborhoods don't use cannabis and buy their cannabis from their neighbors? The real reason is that if the police started busting affluent people for pot, the war on drugs would soon be over. People in affluent neighborhoods have power and influence. People in poor neighborhoods don't. - - Kirk Muse, Mesa, Arizona [end]
I'm writing about the thoughtful column by Georgette Braun, "Belvidere woman seeks guidance from educators, " Oct. 11. It seems to me that all Illinois adults should have the freedom of choice to use cannabis a=C2=80" not just those who need it to treat disease. Cannabis not only relieves pain and suffering, but it also prevents many diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. Cannabis is one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory substances on the planet, and chronic inflammation is the root cause of most diseases of the human body. I strongly urge the readers to read: a=C2=80=C2=9CThe Pot Book: A Complet e Guide to Cannabis: Its role in Medicine, Politics, Science and Culture." It is edited by Julie Holland, M.D. Kirk Muse, Mesa, Arizona [end]
I'm writing about: "Debate swirls around weather to decriminalize marijuana in Illinois" (6-27-15). While decriminalization is far superior to our current policies of marijuana criminalization, the answer to our crime problems caused by marijuana criminalization is full legalization. Decriminalization of use is what we had with alcohol during Alcohol Prohibition (producers and suppliers were punished but not consumers). The only answer is full legalization. Only fully legal products can be regulated by any government agency. Only fully legal products can be controlled by any government agency. And only fully legal products can be taxed by any government agency. Decriminalization leaves the control and distribution of marijuana in the hands of criminal gangs. We need full legalization of marijuana like alcohol and tobacco. Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
If Mike Bonds had avoided misdemeanor convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana more than 15 years ago, he believes he might have been able to enlist in the U.S. Navy. The trajectory of his life - which includes a 2000 felony conviction in Piatt County for marijuana possession - might have been altered, said Bonds, who now operates a gutter installation business. That's why Bonds, 36, who lives in rural Mansfield, about 65 miles northeast of Springfield, supports a bill on Gov. Bruce Rauner's desk that would decriminalize possession of up to 15 grams of cannabis. [continues 2397 words]
This is in response to "Low-level pot offenders in Rock River Valley offered treatment instead of jail," printed in the Journal-Standard. I think that it is noble that pot consumers not be sent to jail for using a natural herb that has never killed anybody. But why treatment? Like millions of others, I am addicted to coffee that contains caffeine. Do I need or want treatment for my coffee addiction? No. How would coffee consumers feel if their nanny-state government criminalized coffee? Probably the same way marijuana consumers feel today. Kirk Muse, former Freeport resident [end]
FREEPORT - While the Cook County state's attorney announced Monday that her office won't prosecute most misdemeanor marijuana cases, there's no such policy shift on the horizon for local prosecutors. State's attorneys in Winnebago, Boone and Stephenson counties said they will continue to offer programs already in place for low-level pot offenders. Anita Alvarez said in Chicago that she also will steer many facing felony drug charges into treatment rather than locking them up. The policy shift will save the county, that includes Chicago, the money it costs to keep offenders in jail, she said. Those facing low-level drug charges will be routed to treatment programs almost immediately after they are arrested, she said. And she added that by reducing the number of days people spend in jail, those arrested may be able to keep their jobs and homes that they could otherwise lose if they're locked up. [continues 445 words]
Claiming that marijuana has a "lethal legacy," as Debbie Leiniger did in her March 7 "My View" opinion is not only specious and spurious, it is akin to declaring that the Earth is flat. Despite all evidence to the contrary. History shows that people have always used intoxicants. In every age, in every part of the world, people have pursued intoxication with plants, alcohol and other euphoric substances. In fact, this behavior has so much force and persistence that it functions much like our drives for food, sleep and sex. [continues 335 words]
Cannabis, or marijuana, prohibitionists use historically discredited lies, half-truths and propaganda like "Marijuana a lethal legacy for future generations" in order to perpetuate the nasty business of caging humans for using what God indicates He created and says is good on literally the very first page of the Bible. Nearly everything Debbie Leininger claims is false, but insinuating cannabis causes cancer is grave. In over 5,000 years of documented use, there is not one single dead body to show cannabis has ever caused cancer, while cigarettes kill over 1,000 Americans daily. A sane or moral argument to cage responsible adults who use cannabis doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
I am writing about Debbie Leininger's not-so-thoughtful "My View" piece: "Marijuana a lethal legacy for future generations." Leininger did not mention why she wants to keep marijuana completely unregulated, untaxed and controlled and distributed only by criminal gangs. Obviously Leininger has never read Clint Werner's outstanding book: "Marijuana Gateway to Health: How Cannabis Protects Us From Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease." If she had, she would learn that not only does cannabis not cause cancer, it prevents it. [continues 70 words]
Two marijuana bills are now being considered in the Illinois State Senate and Illinois House. The Cannabis Penalties Bill, HB 218, introduced by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and co-sponsored by Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana/Champaign, and Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, would replace criminal penalties with a $100 fine. The bill would eliminate the possibility of arrest and jail time with offenders caught possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana. Offenders would be issued a $100 "=C2=80=C2=9CUniform Cannabis= [continues 346 words]
I am writing about the not-so-thoughtful Feb. 8 letter from Robert F. Becker: "Marijuana is not the answer to our problems." Marijuana is certainly the answer for my chronic pain, which is caused by my spinal stenosis and spinal scoliosis. Two of the medications prescribed by my doctor, Meloxicam and Linsospril, and used as prescribed almost killed me by destroying my kidneys. My bloodwork number, which is supposed to be greater than 61, was down to 17. If that number had gotten down to 15, I probably would have died from kidney failure. All medications have side effects. Marijuana is not really a drug but rather a plant and natural herb - a natural herb that has never killed anyone in the 6,000-year history of its use. Kirk Muse, former Freeport resident [end]
Seventy some years ago in my youth, I learned drugs and alcohol would mess up people mentally, they could harm themselves and others. A high school mate researched the dangers of marijuana and warned us to avoid it and other narcotics. As a young adult, I experienced and saw tragic life-altering effects of addictive drugs, alcohol and games learned to shun them and live a happy life. So, I am aghast at the headline "Pot production raises hopes," and the euphoria over resurrection of Mill Race tax profiteering. I seriously question anyone pushing marijuana as a life-saving medical substance when it cures nothing. Whom besides tax addicts and users insist it is medicine? [continues 202 words]
Several decades from now, when historians look back at the beginning of the end of the expensive, wasteful and tragic American War on Drugs, Jesse Snodgrass may very well be mentioned prominently. It shouldn't be that way, of course. An autistic 17-year-old student at Chaparral High School in Southern California should never have been swallowed up by the American anti-drug industrial complex, but he was. Want some dollars and cents figures? The drug war is big business; bigger than U.S. Steel, as Hyman Roth would say. The federal government spent $15 billion in 2010 on the War on Drugs, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. That's about $500 per second. State and local governments spent at least another $25 billion in 2010. [continues 372 words]
I'm writing about Jeremy Sharp's article "Freeport man faces drug charge." Not mentioned in the story was who the unwilling victims were. That's because there were none. Ten to 30 grams is one-third to slightly more than one ounce. Not likely a major trafficker. Perhaps the real victim, Steven Lewis, was attempting to save his own life by using cannabis, a natural herb that prevents Alzheimer's disease and many types of cancer. Why hasn't our government told us about the many health benefits of cannabis? Because they are prevented by law from doing so. [continues 71 words]
Common sense dictates that our police must be solving a much higher percent of homicides today as compared to the 1960s. After all, today's police departments have access to DNA evidence that didn't exist during the 1960s. And police departments today can run finger prints through high tech computers and find an exact match out of 100s of millions finger prints on file. Back in the 1960s, this technology did not exist. So, why do police only solve just over 60 percent of homicides today while during the 1960s, they solved more than 90 percent of homicides? [continues 82 words]
I'm writing about your story: "Local man arrested for cannabis possession" (11-28-12). I sure hope the citizens and taxpayers of Freeport feel safer now that a heinous marijuana dealer is off the streets. The fact is that people are substantially less safe today because of our so-called war on drugs. I suggest that the readers view a short video featuring Stephen Downing the former Deputy Chief of Police of the Los Angeles Police Department: http://tinyurl.com/b3juxa4 [continues 64 words]
"How is it that tobacco is legal and kills thousands of people a year, and marijuana is illegal and used for medicine? Duh! Beam me up Scottie, there's no intelligent life down here." Steve Parson Stockton [end]
I'm writing about the thoughtful letter from LaMar Hasbrouck, MD: "My View: Cigarette tax a budget, health win-win" (May 18). Like the majority of citizens, I am all for taxing a product that I don't use. But I am also for taxing a product that I do use: marijuana. For many reasons, I prefer marijuana to alcohol. Does this make me a bad person? And for many reasons, I prefer marijuana to powerful painkillers like Vicodin. Does this make me a bad person? Both alcohol and painkillers kill thousands of people every year. Yet marijuana use has never killed anyone. So please tax my vice. Kirk Muse Mesa, AZ (formerly of Freeport) [end]
Thank you for publishing Kirk Muse's thought-provoking letter "End marijuana prohibition" (Jan. 13). It's maddening that this administration wants to continue failed prohibition polices that do nothing to reduce drug use and succeed only in funneling billions of dollars into the pockets of cartels, criminals, drug dealers, and violent gangs. Obama needs to remember his campaign pledge in 2004 not to waste scarce resources interfering with state marijuana laws. It's time to deliver the "real change" that he promised. Steven Larson Stockton [end]
