DRUG LAWS ARE HYPOCRITICAL: IS THE EDITORIAL THE SAME?

Re: "The wrong message" (Editorial, Feb. 27):

Due to its content, the comic "Doonesbury" appears on your Opinion pages.
Perhaps your editorial, which scolded us ("We are all to blame for kids
smoking and drinking") for not practicing what we preach, should appear
with the comics. I can only expect your editorial to mean that the
Union-Tribune no longer will be accepting advertisements from alcohol or
tobacco producers. Sure.

Craig A. Nelson, Cardiff by-the-Sea

You're right -- kids can see through hypocrisy. That is the problem with
the arbitrary way we criminalize certain substances. Telling kids that
marijuana will ruin their lives rings hollow when they see people who've
smoked marijuana as gold-medal winners in the Olympics, successful athletes
and entertainers, president of the United States and Speaker of the House
of Representatives. We cannot avoid hypocrisy, because the drug laws in
place in this country are founded in hypocrisy and hysteria.

Greg Handevidt, San Diego