I enjoyed Sandy Grady's critique of the Senate Judiciary hearings on
the recent passage of two state inititives approving medical marijuana
("Duped on the dope issue? Hardly," Viewpoints, Dec. 5).

Particularly amusing is "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey's comment that the
medical marijuana vote "sounded like the Cheech & Chong Show, not a medical
issue." I guess such confusion is understandable -- when I first tuned into
the Senate hearings I mistook them for a colorized version of "Dr.
Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."

Come to think of it, the "war on drugs" might make a perfect sequel to this
classic -- how about "Dr. Strangelove 2: Or How I Hijacked the Peace
Dividend and Learned to Love the Drug War."

Craig Schroer
Austin