NO LAUGHING MATTER

Malcolm Donahoo's sophomoric column poking fun at marijuana consumers
has no place in a respectable newspaper like the Times-Herald. About
15 million Americans use marijuana at least monthly. Is Donahoo
insinuating that all these individuals are useless couch potatoes or
"Cheech and Chong" wannabes?

Marijuana consumers are everywhere. They come from all walks of life.
The local grocer, attorney, mechanic, hairdresser, or even your local
newspaper columnist might be a marijuana consumer. It's offensive that
Donahoo would deride this major group of people who simply choose to
unwind with a substance that is, by all objective measures, far safer
than alcohol.

Do some people abuse marijuana? Sure. But it's even more inappropriate
to make a joke out of problem drug users. Donahoo didn't pen a column
mocking alcoholics. Perhaps that's because it's harder to find humor
in the harms associated with alcohol -- liver cancer, highway
fatalities, domestic violence, etc. -- than it is to laugh at a person
who seems to be enjoying his Cheetos with just a little too much enthusiasm.

What is really not a laughing matter is that we waste billions of tax
dollars arresting some 850,000 Americans every year for using a
substance that's far safer than alcohol or tobacco.

F. Aaron Smith

Marijuana Policy Project

Santa Rosa