Regarding the Nov. 27 letter from Altoona Police Chief John L.
Gray ("Against legalizing drugs"), 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% of
the votes cast.

Chief 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 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 Chief Gray
deprive medical patients of what an administrative law judge for
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration called, "one of the
safest therapeutically active substances known to man." Final
Ruling, DEA Docket No. 86-22, Sept. 6, 1988. 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
Des Moines