ANTI-MARIJUANA LETTER CONTAINED SEVERAL FALLACIES

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.

Medical marijuana is perhaps the most ridiculous of your arguments; I
do not care about your opinions on what drugs are best. The treatment
of patients should be decided by doctors and patients alone, not
political issues. There are much more dangerous prescription drugs
that people do use recreationally; for example, Oxycontin, but no one
thinks about taking this tool out of the hands of caregivers.

ADD is linked to experimenting in drugs, not the other way around. It
is even suggested that cannabis may make a better treatment for ADD
(search Google for the MSNBC report).

The impairments of marijuana are temporary.

Alcohol is linked with schizophrenia just like marijuana is.

Finally, a lot of the risk with marijuana comes from things drug
dealers may add to the substance, all the more reason it should be
taken away from the illegal community and put into the hands of the government.

Spencer Mitchell

Senior, School of Electrical Engineering