Education Best Way To Fight Drugs

Before the hysterical reactions pour in to Russ Moritz's call for
legalization of marijuana (Street Level, June 15), please consider that
nobody avoids drugs just because drugs are illegal. Virtually everyone
who wants to smoke marijuana today is already smoking it.

Education is the only successful weapon in the socalled war against
drugs. The considerable money we put into punishment is better spent on
education and on studying why people seek drugs in the first place.

Also, hemp is a very useful product, providing us with fabrics, cords
and ropes, soap, paint and varnish. This valuable commodity is lost to
us, to our economic detriment, merely because hemp fiber comes from the
marijuana plant. From all standpoints, including tax revenue, it's time
to lift the pointless ban against this plant.

If we truly want to do something about drug use, the courthouse and jail
are not the places to begin.

Fred Glienna
Cour d' Alene, ID