POT EDITORIAL OFFERED NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE

Your editorial "Marijuana shops? a bad idea" (March 10) is itself a
bad idea.

There is mounting proof that marijuana has important medical uses and
that it's safer than other legal substances, such as tobacco and
alcohol. See ProCon.org.

Hawai'i law legalizes marijuana for people who get physician-certified
as having a debilitating medical condition. Past efforts to improve
the law have failed, largely for unsupportable reasons.

A major problem has been that if a certified patient or the patient's
designated caregiver cannot grow and process the medical marijuana
themselves - and many can't - they have to acquire it illegally, on
the street. Most patients seeking medical marijuana, especially the
elderly, elect to go without medical marijuana, no matter how
effective, rather than break the law.

To provide a remedy to persons with debilitating conditions and then
to deny it to patients who would rather suffer than break the law is
cruel and irresponsible.

And so is your editorial opposing dispensaries without suggesting
other legal ways of getting the drug to patients who need it but can't
get it legally. These include decriminalizing cannabis, except for
minors, and legalizing but taxing and regulating marijuana use.

Shame!

Richard S. Miller

Honolulu