DO WE FEAR POT -- OR THOSE WHO SMOKE IT?

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Gary Brookins' March 19 cartoon may have given some a chuckle, but to
those who are struggling with the intractable policy of medical
marijuana prohibition, it was not so funny. In California, where the
voters made medical marijuana use legal, federal authorities still are
arresting cancer and AIDS patients who use it for relief.

The Institute of Medicine was commissioned to study marijuana as a
result of that vote. The report went beyond a vindication of those who
claim medical benefits. The doctors provided some interesting facts
that call into question much of what we are told about marijuana by
authorities. The concept that marijuana leads to other drug use was
debunked. It also disproved the idea that the herb causes a lack of
motivation in users. Most of them have little or no trouble stopping
if they want to.

So why does our society spend much time and effort on this
prohibition? I believe we can find a hint in your cartoon. While it
depicts a clean-cut doctor, the patient has long hair. Could it be
there is something other than marijuana that bothers us about its users?

Walter Bender.
Crewe.