A HIT OF REALITY ABOUT POT

Re "Another course for Phelps" (Letters, Feb. 12): Fred Treece's
pot-pushing letter is untrue, if not dopey. It's not the leaf of any
wild-growing marijuana weed that users crave but rather the highly
potent, THC-laden and carefully cultivated bud of the plant that is
smoked.

Nor is pot-smoking victimless as Treece claims. The tar from
unfiltered, burned cannabis damages the brain, lungs and other organs
of the body.

Harder to quantify but no less devastating are the lives and
relationships ruined by the lethargy and apathy that dope induces.

The stoner collapses on the couch and says, "I'm wasted." Indeed. And
his waste hurts not just him but everyone around him; indirectly, all
of society is affected.

Don't then all of us have an interest in discouraging the harm and
waste caused by marijuana?

B. Carlton Woodnall

Chico