MARIJUANA MORE MORAL

In regard to the June 30 editorial titled ``Killer doctors,'' it was
reported Nashville heart surgeon George Burrus has a tobacco allotment
that makes him a measly $4,000 a year. (How much does he make for one
open-heart surgery?) He justifies it by saying, ``I don't feel like,
say, the guy that's raising dope.''

I assume Burrus meant marijuana when he said ``dope.'' And he would be
right. First, marijuana use is probably much less harmful than tobacco
if for no other reason than people usually don't smoke it frequently,
like all day long, as do tobacco smokers who go through 10-40
cigarettes per day.

Second, at least marijuana smokers get an altered perception. And
there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. That is why so many
people drink alcohol.

Third, a ``dope'' raiser would be making at the very least ten times
the money Burrus makes on whatever size his piddling tobacco allotment
is, but only because marijuana is presently illegal. Once it is
non-criminal (again) to grow, sell and use, the price would drop
substantially.

Health-wise, and from the perspective of the Hippocratic Oath, Burrus,
et al., would be much more moral if he grew marijuana. It would fit
with his admitted greediness, too.

David A. Nichols