FREEDOM FOR POT SMOKERS

If I own a house and all the possessions inside are mine, and I happen to
destroy it all (this is hypothetical, of course), do I go to jail? Of
course not. Freedom is the ability to do more or less whatever you want to
your own possessions as long as no one else is hurt.

What if I cut my finger off with a pair of scissors? I won't win any awards
for having common sense, but neither would I go to jail for hurting my own
body.

But if I smoke a joint, which does not hurt me anywhere near as much, I do
go to jail.

Who should choose what I do to my own body -- me or the government?
Marijuana has been shown to be less harmful than the most commonly abused
drug (alcohol), yet it remains illegal because . . . Got me!

I now freely admit to smoking pot, and I encourage all fellow cannabis
users to follow suit. One of the reasons that marijuana remains illegal is
that people are scared to speak out. If you smoke, let everyone know.

Let the public know that pot smokers are people, too. We have jobs, we have
lives, and yet if caught we go to the same place as sex offenders and
murderers.

I value freedom above all, but the "drug war" blocks my freedom of choice.
There is hardly freedom in a country that requires jail time for growing a
plant.

Brad Schuster
North Richland Hills