ARGUMENTS DRAW LINE: CRIMINALS VS. PATIENTS

The ink is hardly dry on your editorial but proponents of legalizing
marijuana have launched a new misinformation campaign in an effort to
get you to accept their Trojan horse into your workplace.

It is true, as The Oregonian indicated, that the rate of marijuana
use by adult Oregonians as reported by the state of Oregon is 50
percent higher than the national rate. However, the proponents of
marijuana use would have you believe that we should not be so
concerned because the rate of use by Oregonians older than 13 is only
38 percent higher than the national average.

All of this misinformation is being promoted by groups with an
agenda: Legalize marijuana incrementally. These are the very same
people who told you and me in 1998 that the program was for "very few
seriously ill Oregonians" who would be allowed to use "small amounts
of marijuana" and that "no employer would be obligated to accommodate
such use."

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Do not let
this second Trojan horse into our workplaces.

Jerry Gjesvold

Manager of employer services

Serenity Lane Alcohol and Drug Treatment Programs

Albany