I am one of the people who would like the medical benefits of legally
prescribed marijuana. I am outraged that you are making me your enemy
because I have an illness that is effectively treated with marijuana.

You say that Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala's "line of
argument implies a responsibility to devote greater attention to the medical
use of marijuana and to the essentially human impulses behind the two
initiatives' passage - the relief of suffering" (Jan. 3 editorial). So why
are you telling my doctor that he is a criminal if he recommends that I use
marijuana?

You say that "a successful war on drugs chiefly benefits children." And I
have to suffer? Why? Is it really a war against marijuana? No. It is a
misguided war against the misuse of marijuana. I don't want any children
using marijuana.

I am a 49-year-old computer programmer. I run my own consulting business.
I have three grand-children. I don't want them to be able to get marijuana
from their classmates at school. But they can. I would like to buy
marijuana at the pharmacy. But I can't. Is this right?

Arthur Livermore
Arch Cape