Although I have been a registered Republican for 45 years, I am
disgusted with the party's policy on marijuana and tobacco.

When the citizens of Washington, D.C., overwhelmingly voted to
legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons last fall,
congressional Republicans refused to allow the results to be announced
until they were forced to by a court order.

These representatives are now threatening to write language into the
District's appropriations bill that would forbid implementation of
that initiative.

These are many of the same Republicans who protect tobacco interests
in Congress, while gleefully accepting millions of dollars in campaign
and soft money contributions from that industry.

Somehow they appear to believe that it is all right to smoke a drug
that causes cancer, but not to smoke a similar drug that helps ease
the pain of cancer, AIDS and other diseases.

I wonder how their opinions would change if marijuana kingpins could
legally mimic the large campaign contributions tobacco kingpins provide.

John H. O'Hara,
Bowie