LEGALIZE IT

Editor:

I am outraged! Alexander Windle, a 25-year-old man with a two-year-old son,
who was awakened by a loud beating on the front door of his home at 5am,
was shot to death by Wimberley's police force. His crime was that he had
sold or given away almost an ounce of marijuana.

"Marijuana," for those who don't know, is a plant. God invented it.

And he invented a pretty good thing, there, when he did. It is the ultimate
renewable resource. It is an annual that grows quickly, and abundantly, and
widely. It can be processed into durable fabrics, into inexpensive paper,
and into industrial-quality oils; even medicines. Some varieties, when
smoked, also make people feel a bit lightheaded and silly.

The growing and possession of marijuana, or "hemp" as George Washington
used to call it when he grew it at Mount Vernon, has been illegal since
1935 or so, when a low level government employee got scared about black
jazz musicians smoking the stuff, and led an ignorance-based fear campaign
to it's culmination: Prohibition, Part II.

We can argue about legalizing the other drugs later on. For now, legalize
marijuana! Say it with me: Legalize marijuana!

A non-smoker,
David Ort