MARIJUANA LETTER WAS FULL OF DISINFORMATION

Marijuana letter was full of disinformation The letter in Wednesday's
paper by Vita Zemaitis was impressive. Seldom have I read a letter
that was so jam-packed with misinformation, disinformation, old wives'
tales and general nonsense.

As an example, the letter ends by first calling marijuana a stimulant
and then warning about addiction. Neither of these facts are supported
in any unbiased research. Marijuana is not addictive and it is not a
stimulant, but these are just the most egregious of the claims in this
letter.

Alcohol is legal and widely available and if you would check the
statistics you will find many thousands of deaths in this country each
year directly caused by alcohol and not one death caused by marijuana.

If we would learn from our past, we would understand that prohibition
has never worked. The only thing alcohol prohibition accomplished was
to make wealthy a bunch of hoodlums. The same is true of marijuana
prohibition. It is the wrong answer to drug control, just as it was
the wrong answer to alcohol control.

The writer shows a lack of compassion by making casual backhand to the
many thousands of extremely sick individuals who desperately need
relief from pain, nausea, lack of appetite and sleeplessness that
comes with their disease. I sincerely hope this individual never has
to learn firsthand just how cruel it is to have to suffer needlessly
just because our society refuses to have a reasonable discussion about
medical marijuana.

It is time for some common-sense solutions, not more "Reefer Madness"
screeds.

Dennis M. Garland

Chatham