NEED FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Several times a week, I frequent the strip mall where Novato's medical
marijuana club is located. I was not even aware of the club's
existence until I read about it in the IJ.

It is located in a quiet neighborhood near a dead-end street. You will
find more unsavory characters loitering at a coffee store than you
will find at this store.

I am a product of the '60s, so I find no fault with marijuana; in
fact, I introduced it to my dying mother in her last months of suffering.

It was a big medical aid in her hospice care.

There is a need for the medical use of this drug. I also believe there
is a benefit to social use of grass for relaxation and
de-stressing.

We all know California is in a record-breaking state of fiscal inertia
and something has to be done now. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on
the right track when he suggested legalizing and taxing marijuana.

People have always, and will always, smoke it, so why not eliminate
the crime currently involved and use the tax revenue to clean up our
mess and pay our debts.

Everyone benefits, taxes won't be raised and the quality of the grass
will be regulated and controlled. Marijuana smoking needs to be
treated like liquor and tobacco use.

It is time to change our attitudes.

Linda Riedel, Novato