PUBLIC VS. POLITICIANS ON MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

Re: "Smoke screen" (Editorial, Dec. 1):

There you go again! No discussion on whether or not marijuana has any
medicinal value. Just the same old slippery-slope argument that any
softening of drug laws is a back-door effort to legalize them.

The American people are way ahead of the politicians on this issue. They
know that marijuana has medicinal value, and those who can benefit from it
should have access to it under a doctor's supervision. But Washington
bureaucrats and law enforcement officials have done everything they can to
thwart this. They have threatened and bullied doctors to the point where
it's nearly impossible to find one willing to risk recommending marijuana
to a patient.

The war on drugs, which is really a war on drug users, has been a miserable
failure. Even the politicians admit that. Unfortunately, they are so afraid
of appearing soft on crime or "sending the wrong message to children" that
they are unwilling to even consider another approach.

The people of California recently affirmed that drug abuse should be
treated as a public health problem, and not a criminal matter. No doubt
those who have a vested interest in continuing this war on drug users will
eventually find a way to ignore, or strike down, that law as well.

I agree with you that we should not do another end run around Congress. We
should let our representatives know that if they are willing to take the
lead in a more rational approach to drugs, we will support them no matter
what party they belong to. Considering the number of people who are in jail
in this country because of the drug laws, is there any other issue that is
more important?

Ken Padgett, University City