BAD THINGS WILL OCCUR IF MARIJUANA LEGALIZED

Legalizing marijuana for any use is a bad idea. Sen. J. Kalani
English, Rep. Joe Bertram III and other lawmakers backing this move
are 100 percent wrong.

What's certain to occur with more marijuana available:

.More impaired driving, which has increased dramatically in recent
years. It's not just alcohol anymore, but a combo of drugs, including
pot.

.More marijuana use across the board, including by youth, as the devil
weed is especially attractive to youth. With more pot in circulation,
we will have the same success in keeping it away from youth as we've
had with tobacco - zero. Where weed is available in places like
California, people are getting it with prescriptions and reselling it
to youths for a profit.

.More drug use overall and more dependency and addiction. Drug use
begets more drug use. Tired of pot? Try some meth or coke or ecstasy.
And pot absolutely produces psychological and emotional dependence.

.More cognitive impairment of smokers, including folks like
airline/helicopter mechanics, transportation workers and many others
our society can ill afford to be cognitively impaired.

.More disease and debilitation as a result of tars and other
carcinogenic substances in pot.

Inhaling any kind of smoke is bad news for overall
health.

It's strictly moronic behavior that decriminalizing or legalizing pot
will legitimatize. Every place where pot's become available more
readily has seen marijuana dispensaries multiply wildly to the rue of
lawmakers who let the genie out and now wish they hadn't. Pot
dispensaries on Front Street, anyone?

Jerome Kellner

Wailuku