POT IS A RECREATION FOR MANY

Where to start? Ten years ago I was about columnist Tess Forbush's age
("Smoking pot is a choice, one with consequences," April 5) and would no
doubt have written an article much like the one she wrote. Her ability to
still see things with black-and-white clarity certainly reminds me of a
naivete I miss. I know it's practically pointless to tell a very young
person anything about what the future might hold for them, but I'll give it
a go.

Some people have found on this particular issue that you can't trust all
statistics and stories. Check your sources. Do they have anything
(money/funding) to gain? Tess has no idea yet how many well-respected
members of any given community actually use marijuana for recreation. There
are smokers in law enforcement and smokers presiding over courts. There are
smokers in the law-making bodies that keep it illegal. It's a hypocritical
system that puts nonviolent pot smokers in prison where many horrible
things can happen to them.

Unless things have changed recently, I know the people of California voted
to legalize medicinal marijuana use. I think Maine did too. There are also
two governors who want to legalize all drugs (New Mexico and Minnesota). I
could pick apart the article's "faulty logic," but this letter already
looks too long.

Vanessa Peters, Fort Richardson