MARIJUANA USERS THE ONLY VICTIMS

It is not the government's business to protect you from yourself, only to
protect you from others.

I read the article REDUCE PENALTY FOR POT? TIME TO JUST SAY NO with mild
disgust. The writer compared possessing marijuana with stealing a car and
robbing a house, and suggested it should be dealt with as sternly.

There is one key difference, though, that the author failed to ackowledge:
possessing marijuana is a consensual crime, while stealing or vandalizing
someone else's property is quite non-consensual. The only victim of a
person who possesses marijuana is themself, where those other crimes have
clear victims.

It is unjust and downright evil to severely punish people for actions that
hurt only themselves. If its so harmful to the user, then it should be its
own punishment. If it is not, then why is it illegal in the first place?

It is not the government's business to protect you from yourself, only to
protect you from others. Else cigarettes, alcohol, and fatty foods should
also be illegal, and you should go to jail for not exercising regularly.
Does anyone want to live in that sort of world?

Beware, that may be the sort of world we are creating with our current drug
policies.

Learn more about our national drug policy by entering 'drug policy' in any
Internet search engine.

Bruce Stephenson
Corvallis, Oregon Via the Internet