Opinion The Register's Readers Say

MARIJUANA FEARS ARE EXAGGERATED

Regarding the Nov. 26 Further Reflections by Altoona Police Chief John L.
Gray ("The Medical Marijuana Deception"), I would like to correct some
errors.

Chief Gray is mistaken about the location of the recent vote on medical
marijuana. The vote was not in the state of New York, it was in the state
of Washington. Also, it was not really a vote on medical marijuana.

The Washington initiative also included the medical use of substances such
as LSD and PCP. The Washington initiative was clearly too radical for the
voters. The inclusion of substances such as LSD and PCP in the Washington
initiative clearly destroyed any chance of passage the initiative might
have had.

Even though the initiative was crippled by the inclusion of other illegal
substances, it still got over 40 percent of the votes cast.

Gray is also in error when he accuses proponents of medical marijuana of
wanting to legalize illegal drugs for entertainment purposes.

The voters in Washington just proved that they can make a distinction
between medical use of marijuana and other illegal substances.

If medical marijuana is a smoke screen for a scheme to sell angel dust and
methamphetamine to kids, then why aren't we hearing arguments that medical
use of cocaine and morphine is a smoke screen for selling crack and heroin
to kids?

The sad fact is that distortions such as those made by Gray deprive medical
patients of what an administrative law judge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration in 1988 called, "one of the safest therapeutically active
substances known to man."

More recently, medical marijuana was endorsed as a medicine by the New
England Journal of Medicine (Jan. 30, 1997).

If anyone is responsible for creating a decrease in the perception of risk,
it is the opponents of medical marijuana who have exaggerated the risks.
Credibility is an important tool in the fight against drug abuse.

Perhaps the most revealing thing about Chief Gray's letter is his praise of
the intelligence that went to crafting Iowa's drug law. Iowa's drug law has
classified marijuana as a medicine since 1979.

If Chief Gray really means it when he says that police officials are ready
and willing to fullfil their sworn duty to uphold the law, then he needs to
take a moment to read the law and find out what it says.

Carl E. Olsen, 1116 E. Seneca Ave., Des Moines.

As I read the Nov. 26 Further Reflections ("The Medical Marijuana
Deception") by Altoona Police Chief John Gray, I couldn't help but think of
Chicken Little.

Doctors should be able to prescribe the most effective medicine. They can
prescribe morphine and cocaine, and I don't believe that makes it any more
acceptable for illicit use in anyone's mind.

It is glaringly apparent that Gray does not suffer from chronic or life
threatening disease. He should walk a mile in our braces, wheelchairs and
sick beds before he makes that leap from medicine to legalization and
children.

Legislatures in 34 states have recognized marijuana's medical value. It is
the feds who are out of touch with the people.

Chief Gray and others seem to think that the voting public is being duped,
that they aren't smart enough to know what they are voting for. The
California proposition received more votes than Clinton did.

Despite legislators' good intentions, they occasionally pass bad laws.
Slavery, segregation, women's right to vote and Prohibition are classic
examples.

Ladd Huffman, Box 102, Calumet.

The commentary by Altoona Police Chief John Gray was socratic
slieghtofhand at its most manipulative.

Every one of these slippery slope questions posed by Chief Gray was written
by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in the federal
governmentfunded pamphlet, "How to Hold Your Own in a Drug Legalization
Debate."

This pamphlet was written at the Quantico Marine base using vast amounts of
our tax dollars.

Why must we fund this blatantly political activity with our hardearned tax
dollars?

Though I do not doubt Chief Gray's sincerity; I question his real
motivation. If he is going to plagiarize the DEA's selfserving
propaganda, the least he can do is cite his source.

D. Paul Stanford, 3316 S. E. Stephens, Portland, Ore.