DON'T LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

To the Editor:

In 1612, the Native Americans taught John Rolf how to cultivate
tobacco in Virginia. This commodity quickly grew into a thriving
commercial enterprise.

But along with it came a very troublesome problem. By the 1670s, the
medical literature of those times began to report all of the increased
tumor growths and disease occurring in the population. Despite of the
warnings of those days, tobacco has flourished and remains big
business. It continues to be a serious medical cause of disease and
accounts for nearly 500,000 deaths each year. Most of us recognize
what tobacco has caused and there are on-going attempts to wipe out
some of its consequences.

God has given most of us a measure of what is commonly called common
sense. When I was a young man this was called "horse sense," and if
you didn't have it you were said to be "mule headed." Now is the time
to call upon that endowed asset of common sense. There have been two
Pandora's Boxes that have been opened within the state of California.
One is the issue of so-called "medical marijuana" in which marijuana
is touted to be a great medicine, but there has been no medical
supervision in its usage. There are no medical controls, and it has
been up to the patient to prescribe his/her own dosage for almost any
supposed ailment, no matter how minor the ailment might be.

A person that states they must have 25 plants is saying that they
require 1 pound of marijuana per week.

With that amount in mind, mathematically they would be smoking or
using 128 marijuana cigarettes per day. That is over 6 packs of
regular tobacco cigarettes. Further, they would be smoking a marijuana
cigarette every 7.5 minutes during a 16 hour period of waking hours,
giving them 8 hours of sleep. In Alison Myrden's case, she would be
smoking 600 marijuana cigarettes per day. This would equal 30 packs of
regular tobacco cigarettes and she would be smoking a marijuana
cigarette every 1.5 minutes during a 16 hour period. Dear readers, use
your common sense, does that seem possible to you?

There has been a loud cry, even from some highly intelligent people,
that we should legalize marijuana and tax its usage. Again readers,
use your common sense. Are you really going to open another Pandora's
Box and release a scourge upon this world? If marijuana was to be
legalized, just what would that mean?

1. It would mean that you could tax it, just as tobacco is taxed, but
would you be ready to reap the consequences?

2. Let us look at some of the consequences:

A. It has been demonstrated by a Dutch study published in 2007 that
marijuana does three to five times more lung damage than tobacco.
Tobacco is a scourge and has been for 400 years. You can't get rid of
it. Are you willing to release something three to five times worse?

B. How quickly will the planting of marijuana for profit displace
other valuable crops?

C. Will the price of marijuana really come down? No! The cost of
problems it will cause will far outweigh any cost in a decreased price
for marijuana. You are the taxpayers and you will pay all the medical
cost of those that use it and reap the medical disease it will cause.
Use you heads, folks! Do you think that these marijuana users are
going to pay for their own medical bills? Many of them are already on
welfare with you paying their way.

D. How about restrictions on growing marijuana? Where can it legally
be grown? Can your neighbor grow as many plants as he wishes in his
back yard and give you an obscene gesture if you protest? If it's
legalized, it is legal and he should be able to grow it just like you
grow tomatoes.

E. Will there be so much grown that we with our sensitive noses cannot
live with it and because it is legal we might tend to take action in
our own hands? What a problem this would cause in the court system.

F. Can you imagine what a stinking planet we would have if a lot of
people jump on the band wagon and grow this stuff?

G. Ease of access for our young people. It would be so easy to obtain
that they would not have to buy it. They could just go out and steal
it. Already it is being promoted in grade schools.

H. Does it affect the mind?

If anything affects the mind in an adverse way, it is marijuana. You
must be completely out of your mind to pay three to five thousand
dollars per pound for this stuff. Those that use it are willing to pay
this price for it but get huffy if cherries are over four dollars per
pound. They will destroy to get it. They will steal it. They will
kill, perhaps even you, to get it. Does marijuana affect the mind?

I. If we legalize marijuana just so we can tax it, who will benefit?
How are those tax dollars to be used? We might find that we can start
and fun a war with several countries at the same time!

This is only a partial list of consequences that we will reap if we
legalize marijuana. Do not be fooled y those that urge its
legalization and that the price will come down and everything after is
a bed of roses. Use your common sense. Look around. It's in there
somewhere, unless of course, you have a marijuana agenda you wish to
promote.

James R. Cruise

Redwood Valley