ATTACKS UNNECESSARY

Re: Drug tests weed out abusers, Feedback, the Observer, Nov. 8.

I have enjoyed reading the ongoing dialogue my Oct. 15 letter appears
to have spawned.

Much of the negative commentary on cannabis the various writers
contributed I found to be based upon either ignorance of the plant
itself or else upon the biased research of either government or
pharmaceutical-alcohol corporations - both of which have a vested
interest in keeping pot illegal and criminal and maligned by
irrational and illogical fear-mongering.

Paul Drescher's letter Nov. 8 tends to summarize this position so
often taken by those who have no actual experience of the plant and
therefore need to rely upon the corporate newspapers and anti-pot
organizations and industries for their supposed "facts."

None of the writers who have been critical of marijuana use have
confessed to using the plant, which speaks volumes as to their
personal awareness of the beneficial aspects of the plant's inherent nature.

2007 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love (1967) as
well as the year in which I first began smoking marijuana on a casual basis.

It is these past four decades of modest use which have convinced me
that all the rhetoric and the hullabaloo over the dangers of using
this medicinal plant are fabricated, misleading lies. They're
designed to prohibit the average citizen from enjoying a substance
not only medically beneficial and industrially far superior to any
petrochemical product that has replaced its traditional role but more
importantly still, to criminalize and terrorize people who rightfully
choose to get high and feel good via a natural, God-given plant that
was created for all the aforesaid reasons.

One other point that needs to be emphasized in this ongoing debate is
what I would call the spiritual aspect of the cannabis plant.

It has been considered by all eastern cultures to be a sacred herb
for thousands of years due to its ability to raise the consciousness
of the user to levels of awareness that transcend the everyday,
mundane perception of conditioned reality.

That ability in itself ought to justify its legitimate use for
personal, therapeutic application notwithstanding all its other
positive benefits, but strange as it is in these darkening days of
jaded, corrupt, industrial-chemical-corporate madness, terror and
war, the one substance God provided for man which helps tremendously
to mitigate all this negativity is attacked and twisted into a
gigantic lie by the forces of darkness and ignorance.

That, I would humbly submit, is the real and tragic abuse that is
occurring regarding the marijuana plant.

Arthur Topham

Cottonwood