Regarding your "From both sides" editorials,
Families, voters can make decision" and "Marijuana is
just bad medicine" (Dec. 6), I commend you for your
attempt at balance on the issue of reform of drug policy.
I do not believe anyone was hoodwinked by passage of
Propositions 200 and 215 in California and Arizona.
People have seen the fruits of our drug war - that it
is destructive. They have seen the overburdened courts
and the building more and more prisons with their
hard-eamed tax money. They have seen the release of
truly dangerous criminals because prisons are
overflowing with low-level, non-violent drug offenders.
They have seen the erosion of our civil liberties based
upon a noble cause but fatally flawed policies.
People have seen the government forbidding legitimate
research into the medical efficacy of marijuana and drug
police making decisions that are the business of doctors
and their patients only. They have seen the suffering of
sick people forbidden to use medicine that works for
them.

It is time to put the drug warriors out of business.

Michael F. Marion
Marysville, Wash.