MARIJUANA LAWS MAKE NO SENSE

I just finished reading Mike Doogan's July 4 opinion column ("Hemp
initiative would clear up current muddle on marijuana") and I must say that
he has expressed something that I have been saying for a long time.

The people who are out to get "pot smokers" need to get off of their high
horse and look at the big picture. I would much rather have somebody
driving on the same road with me at midnight who had just finished smoking
a joint instead of drinking a bottle of tequila, for obvious reasons. I
would also much rather have someone at home smoking a joint instead of
sitting next to me in a public place blowing cigarette smoke wherever they
please so I can breath it into my lungs.

Yet, while marijuana is so "bad" and illegal, you can walk into a liquor
store, buy as much alcohol as you want, walk out to your vehicle, and drive
away. And hundreds of thousands of people die each year because of lung
cancer caused by cigarettes, including second-hand smoke. What do we do
about this? Nothing. We're too busy spending money to put the
all-too-dangerous "pot smoker" in prison. Where are our priorities?

I, believe it or not, do not smoke marijuana. But I know a backward
situation when I see one, and this one takes the cake.

Seth Howard, Wasilla