I've been following the ongoing debate in the opinion section of the Tribune-Star concerning the legalization of marijuana.

It seems as though we as Americans suffer from memory loss, or it's possible that there are those among us who don't know American history. He who knows not history is destined to repeat it.

On Jan. 16, 1920, the Volstead Act was enacted. The Volstead Act, also known as The National Prohibition Act, banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Prohibition became known nationally as "The Noble Experiment" and an experiment it was. The result of the experiment was complete and total failure. As a matter of a fact, Prohibition was one of the most monumentally failed social experiments in the history of America.

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Bob Rinearson's rationalization ("War on drugs important to nation's future, and worth every dime spent," May 7) to continue cannabis (marijuana) prohibition is ignorant.

Perhaps it's time for Rinearson to stop thinking of cannabis as a drug and start thinking of it as a plant. God created all seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on the first page of the Bible.

A sane and moral argument to continue caging humans for using the plant cannabis doesn't exist. Caging humans for using cannabis can only be rationalized based upon personality traits associated with bigotry, racism or discrimination.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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Columnist Bob Rinearson on May 7 made the common mistake of assuming that punitive drug laws actually reduce use. The drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that criminalizes citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.

Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. The short-term health effects of marijuana are inconsequential compared to the long-term effects of criminal records. Unfortunately, marijuana represents the counterculture to many Americans.

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Shirley A. Thomas' letter ("Marijuana is a dangerous drug", May 27, 2009) wants people to believe cannabis (marijuana) is a dangerous drug, but relatively speaking it is neither.

Cannabis is less addictive than coffee, safer than beer, wine or whiskey and hasn't killed a person in over 5,000 years of documented use, while cigarettes kill over 1,000 Americans daily. Is it 100 percent safe? No. Should underage youth use the relatively safe, God-given plant? No. Should responsible adult humans be caged for using the plant cannabis? No, absolutely not. Should citizens lose their jobs for using cannabis after work instead of drinking a glass of wine? No, that's discrimination.

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To letter writer Michael T. Lawson, who recently wrote that marijuana isn't addictive and that there are no withdrawal pains: Are you nuts?

I am a college educated woman who has had personal experience with what the use of this drug can do to a person. I have seen users become violent and abusive if they didn't have their daily fix. I have seen users explode with anger. I am neither uninformed nor ignorant about what this drug will do to a person. I have seen users steal, lie, and cheat their families of money that was needed to pay rent and buy groceries so they could buy a joint.

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I’m responding to the outstanding letter on Saturday from Michael T. Lawson: “Yes, marijuana use should be legalized”.

I’d like to add that one of the medications prescribed by my personal physician for my arthritis pain and inflammation, has the rare potential side effect of death. In other words, if I take this medication as prescribed, I can die as a result. On the other hand, marijuana has never been documented to kill a single person in the 5,000 year history of its use.

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In a couple of previous letters (pertaining to marijuana), I left out what should be considered a very pertinent fact. Shirley A. Thomas says she's a "college educated woman." What degree does she have, and in what field?

A relative of mine has a master's degree in psychology. He worked his way up (while working on his master's) from suicide hot-line counselor to the top dog at San Diego County Mental Health in California. All the while, he was a marijuana user! It certainly ruined his life; didn't it? My relative and I both know "many" college graduates who don't have sense enough to come in out of the rain. He would, and has recommended its use to many of his clients. And, yes, I do (and so does he) advocate it's legalization.

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Niles Man's Marijuana Use, While Legal, May Cost Him His Home.

NILES - On a scale of 1 to 10, says Steve Allain, his pain is somewhere between 4 and 5.

On a good day.

"When my Crohn's flares up, it's like a saber-toothed badger trying to eat its way out," he said.

The 54-year-old Niles man, a victim not only of Crohn's disease but hepatitis C and acute depression, has run the gamut of medications. Just a few months ago, he hit upon a viable alternative: marijuana.

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"A lot of good has come from drugs. I think 'Penny Lane' is worth 10 dead kids. 'Dark Side of the Moon' is worth 100 dead kids. Because a lot of kids wouldn't even be born if it weren't for that album, so it evens out." - Bill Maher

Jeffery Miron is a senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. It certainly seems lately that when someone associated with Harvard speaks we all should listen, since Harvard knows what's best for America.

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BLOOMINGTON -- Legalizing marijuana use for chronic pain relief would be a compassionate move and its time has come, supporters said. But opponents argue that allowing marijuana -- even for medical reasons would open the door to all sorts of abuse.

Thirteen states allow marijuana use for medical reasons. Illinois legislators are considering a bill that has more support this year than when it was defeated in the Illinois Senate in 2007.

Senate Bill 1381 says when a person is diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition, the patient -- with his or her physician's permission -- would be allowed to have up to seven marijuana plants and two ounces of cannabis for medical reasons.

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More than a dozen teens gathered in front of the Logan Tabernacle on Monday evening to rally for the legalization of marijuana.

It's 4/20, and where this is national marijuana day and we want to legalize marijuana (we came to rally)," said Jamie Gurinch, 15, of Logan.

Internationally, April 20 typically motivates a series of rallies and special events among those who favor the legalization of marijuana.

Dylan Lofthouse, a 14-year-old who goes to Willow Valley Middle School in Wellsville, attended with his two brothers, ages 13 and 15. He said both his mom and his step-mom would agree with the cause as well.

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U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's Parade magazine article "Why we must fix our prisons" (March 29) has an important local angle.

Webb laid out statistic after statistic showing the terrible stupidity of America's incarceration policies, especially when it comes to marijuana. One of the most powerful opponents of reforming marijuana laws has been northeast Indiana's Congressman Mark Souder, R-3rd.

At least Souder's party is out of power now. I hope the Democrats will have the courage to establish the commission sought by Sen. Webb and give the American people sound alternatives to our destructive incarceration policies. An important step in that direction would be to stop filling prisons with pot smokers.

Evan Davis

Fort Wayne

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Mr. Jimmy Cox,

Here are some of the fallacies with the things you had to say.

The first issue is you started out saying "drugs," but you really only meant marijuana the whole time. I've never heard anyone claim all drugs should be legal, and if you have, then it is from a small population that won't ever really have a noteworthy backing.

You then go on to talk about the issue of making drugs more available, and this leading to increased use. Although this argument sounds reasonable, it ignores reality. When I was in high school, it was considerably easier to get marijuana than alcohol. The fact that it's always illegal to acquire sets up the system to get it to you illegally, whereas alcohol requires you to ask someone to break the law for you. You cannot just pretend the broken system works.

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Carroll School Board members had their annual meeting with the Student Council during the school day on March 17.

Among the topics discussed were drugs, cell phones, economic impact on the schools, 10-year plan, and students' "wish list."

Students were asked about Carroll students' drug use. Among high school students, the Student Council estimated that 15-20 percent are regular users of drugs, and maybe as high as 40 percent use occasionally or at least have tried drugs. Their perception is that the students use recreational drugs, not performance enhancing drugs.

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It's an indictment of our fact-averse political culture that a statement of the blindingly obvious could sound so revolutionary. "Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters Wednesday as she flew to Mexico for an official visit. "Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border . . . causes the deaths of police, of soldiers and civilians."

Amazingly, U.S. officials have avoided facing these facts for decades. This is a moral failure that has had horrific consequences for Mexico, Colombia, Peru and other Latin American and Caribbean nations.

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Another beneficial component of re-legalizing cannabis (marijuana) that doesn't get mentioned (Editorial: "Legalizing Marijuana," March 9) is that it will lower hard drug addiction rates. Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, will have to stop brainwashing youth into believing lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning cannabis, which creates grave future problems.

How many citizens try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as taught in DARE-type government environments? Then they think other substances must not be so bad, either, only to become addicted to deadly drugs. The old lessons make cannabis out to be among the worst substances in the world, even though it's less addictive than coffee and has never killed a single person.

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A few years ago, I visited Mexico as part of an international delegation of journalists seeking to learn more about an enduring problem in that country, the corruption of the press. It is widely known that reporters there routinely supplement their salaries by accepting fees, bribes, even monthly stipends, from the sources they cover.

However, something happened during our visit that changed the nature of the trip. The nation's chief drug enforcer, a general who operated with a presidential mandate and the backing of the Mexican army, was arrested and revealed to be on the take from drug lords.

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The Illinois House committee gave the go-ahead for a plan that would legalize medical marijuana in the state.

As you could assume, some people aren't too happy about this decision. However, we think Illinois is thinking along the right lines.

Relieving the pain of cancer, AIDS and other diseases motivated lawmakers. By legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, people suffering ailments of all sorts will be able to use this drug for relief.

We think citizens who have a doctor's permission to use medical marijuana should be able to do so. People unnecessarily endure pain and suffering from diseases every day, and medical marijuana could help. For example, marijuana has been shown to help chemotherapy patients quell their nausea. It helps curb pains without some of the side effects heavier drugs tend to have.

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A former Greencastle man got what his court-appointed attorney James Recker said "might look like the deal of the century" Thursday in Putnam County Circuit Court.

Thomas L. Gorham III, 28, of Centralia, Mo., was in court to be sentenced on what were originally charges of Class A felony dealing in methamphetamine and Class B felony dealing in methamphetamine.

But under the terms of a plea agreement Gorham -- who spent one day in jail after being arrested and posting bond in October of 2007 -- pled guilty to one Class D felony possession of meth charge and was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

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I'm writing about DJ Funkhouser's thoughtful column "It's weed, get over it."

Our government is wasting countless billions of dollars attempting to eradicate an easy-to-grow type of marijuana that at least 95 million Americans have used. The net result is that the drug is just as available today as it was in the 1970s.

Instead of attempting to nullify the immutable law of supply and demand, our government should regulate, control and tax marijuana. We could easily tax it at about 90 percent of its retail price. The vast majority of marijuana's current price is the result of the "prohibition tax," which is now going to organized crime.

It seems to me that non-users would be very much in favor of taxing a product that they don't use. Around here, taxing somebody else's vice is very popular.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

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