Re: "Epis ordered back to slammer" (Downstroke, CN&R, May 7): Bryan Epis was railroaded in a kangaroo court with prosecutorial fantasies about a (now "missing") spreadsheet being a plan to conspire to grow more than 1,000 cannabis plants. In about two hours, I am going to drive up to Oaksterdam and charge about $800 worth of high-grade cannabis bud on my MasterCard. Please explain why Epis hasn't yet been issued an apology and restitution for the obscenities he has already endured in this abominable abortion of justice? Richard Paul Steeb San Jose [end]
Re "DEA raids marijuana outlets," Jan. 18 As a California citizen, I found it disturbing to read Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton's promise to work with federal authorities in usurping the will of the California electorate. As a glaucoma patient relying on cannabis medically, it is my intent to see dispensaries propagate and thrive. It is the federal law that is wrong. Cannabis prohibition is irrational in a nation with Starbucks, much less thriving alcohol and tobacco industries. Richard P. Steeb San Jose [end]
This Ann Arbor native finds it incredible that Greg Francisco of Paw Paw is being subjected to such harsh results from such a non-offense, based on the story in the Feb. 16 Kalamazoo Gazette, ``Former school counselor says he's a target after drug arrest.'' I can recall a seed sprouting in a leaky Corvair I had in the 1970s. The stuff I smoke daily now has no seeds. When will the reefer-madness end? Aside from the colossal waste of precious taxpayer-funded resources, the rank injustice is appalling. By now, Francisco deserves restitution, not further persecution. It is long past time to legalize cannabis and spare us all the waste and grief. Richard P. Steeb San Jose, Calif. [end]
Kenneth Michael White writes: "As far as federal law is concerned, a person using marijuana at a rock concert has the same status as a person using marijuana based on a doctor's recommendation." Ok, fine! Neither person deserves criminal sanction for choosing the non-toxic herb in a nation with thriving alcohol and tobacco industries. By all means, compassionate medical use has been declared the law of California; support it. Better yet-- abolish the abomination that is cannabis prohibition in its entirety. Rosa Parks would never have settled for "Negroes who are pregnant, disabled, or have physician certified claustrophobia may ride in the front portion of the bus..." Richard P Steeb, San Jose [end]
Dear Editor, It would be utterly bizarre to suggest that diabetics travel to distant and well-scattered pharmacies to fill their insulin prescriptions. And who would even suggest we might "protect the children" by sending drinkers 70 miles round-trip to get their case of beer? It benefits no one to force bona fide cannabis patients to attempt to grow their own medicine, travel to distant dispensaries, or buy potentially tainted herb from black-market street dealers. The Compassionate Use Act was decisively passed nearly nine years ago. Isn't it about time the city council and other authorities involved help rather than obstruct would-be providers in serving the legitimate needs of local patients? Richard Steeb San Jose Editor's note: Milpitas City Council last week denied an emergency moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. [end]
Editor: If you're talking about minors, alcohol is the most common and dangerous illicit drug in common use. If you're talking about adults, a nation with thriving alcohol and tobacco industries has no moral authority to condemn cannabis use. The best deterrent to the illegal use of cannabis is to legalize it. Richard Steeb San Jose, Calif. [end]
In his op-ed "Law allows medical marijuana in capsule form," Darold A. Treffert, M.D. correctly points out that Marinol is available by prescription, and is Schedule II. He is drastically wrong in assuming that smoking is the preferred or only method to administer raw cannabis for medicinal use; the FDA has approved the Volcano vaporizer for human trials. Anyone familiar with the origins of cannabis prohibition will find the interminable "research" that is always called for extremely ironic, in the face of the hysterical propaganda that led to its prohibition and removal from the USP in the 1930s. [continues 58 words]
