LETTER OF THE WEEK

NO LAUGHING MATTER

By F. Aaron Smith

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

Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 2009

Source: Times-Herald, The (Vallejo, CA)

Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n000/a187.html