SMOKING MARIJUANA ON OWN TIME NO BIG DEAL

Dear Editor,

Sen. James "Pate" Phillips has recently held up Senate Bill 1047,
which would have finally given the Department of Corrections
employees a pension plan that provided needed relief in the number of
years they have to spend in Corrections. At issue is his insistence
on the proposed "zero tolerance" policy that would fire employees who
test positive for drugs.

More than 90 percent of those who have thus-far tested positive, have
shown traces of marijuana. These employees did not use marijuana on
the job, but have done so in the privacy of their own time and home.
DOC employees are dedicated and reliable and should not be fired for
choosing a drug that is safer than the two favorite drugs of the
politicians: alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana laws are changing across
the country -- an indication that it is not the "evil drug" as once
thought.

A point of irony is that these same politicians refuse to submit to
mandatory drug testing themselves. Furthermore, with news breaking
almost daily about how DOC officials are wasting money on airplane
rides to political events, perhaps money would be better spent in
alcohol-testing these officials along with the politicians they
patronize. Our roadways would be safer.

George Atterberry, Oakford