TOBACCO VS. MARIJUANA

Daily Herald editorial writers articulated our national schizophrenia
regarding drug policy recently as they rallied for universal condemnation
of marijuana ("Marijuana use isn't harmless," Feb. 17) while days later
they favored concessions and continued leniency for the tobacco industry
("Without immunity, tobacco deal fails," Feb. 19). These views may be
popular, but when analyzed side by side they defy logic.

Tobacco addicts millions and it leads hundreds of thousands to early death
each year, including second-hand smokers who didn't even make the choice to
use it. No one suggests tobacco has medical value.

Marijuana, on the other hand, has been recommended by doctors to patients
suffering from AIDS, the side effects of chemotherapy and a variety of
spastic muscle disorders, among other maladies. It is not physically
addicting and human deaths related to marijuana use have not been credibly
documented.

There is no argument about the need to keep children away from both
substances, but the strategies are radically different. Somehow marijuana
will be kept away from kids by exaggerating its risks and enforcing
increasingly strict penalties for any use, even doctor-sanctioned medical
use. But when it comes to tobacco, the industry should be trusted to keep
kids away from their product, even though documents now show how
representatives lied for decades about active marketing to children.

Both strategies retreat from honesty and rationality as if they were the
plague. They have failed and will continue to fail.

To show how ludicrous these "solutions" are, think about reversing them.
Imagine a world where marijuana manufacturers are allowed the power to
negotiate regulation even as they receive subsidies from the federal
government, while pot is available at virtually every gas station and
grocery store. In that same world, imagine citizens who risk forfeiting
their liberty and property for possessing the smallest amount of tobacco,
while they are scolded by editorialists for not thinking negatively enough
about the demon drug.

Sound insane? Perhaps, but how much crazier is it than what we have now?

Stephen Young Roselle