MARIJUANA DANGERS

With all the recent attention focused on the legalizing of marijuana
in California, little has been said of the inherent dangers. Being a
former user I can attest to the ill effects contained in smoking the drug.

Aside from the medicinal benefits of pain relief and increased hunger
to the truly chronically ill, marijuana smoke far surpasses the
dangers of cigarette smoking.

Marijuana smoke contains heavy tar and the combustion process
produces carbon conoxide. Long-term usage can and may lead to lung
cancer, emphysema and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).
Back when meathead Rob Reiner's cigarette tax was voted into law
California officials heralded it saying "we are tired of paying
billions to cover the cost of the uninsured smoking related illnesses."

Nowadays due to massive overspending the thinking seems to be a fairy
tale stopgap measure using heavy taxes on marijuana to solve our
government's ills.

Nothing could be further from the truth. How will legalization be
affected by local and state laws? You can't smoke cigarettes in most
public places and now not even in some private places. What about the
dangers from secondhand smoke and driving under the influence? Will
our overburdened health-care facilities be able to cover the
increased costs and flow of the uninsured who fall ill?

These days most job applicants have to face drug-testing and unlike
alcohol, pot stays in your system for up to a month. Another myth is
that marijuana is not addicting - not true.

While pot smoke has no addictive nicotine properties it does form an
expensive psychological addiction that makes it hard to quit. It is
already legal in California for most people seeking medicinal use to
see a doctor and gain access to local dispensaries.

It is also true that pot can be ingested with cookies and brownies
but this requires much larger quantities. Pot can also be vaporized
with less effects through an expensive vaporizer but must users,
especially the young, choose to smoke it? Do we really need to open
this can of worms to the public? I say hold our politicians
accountable for the state budget mess and just say no. Please think
long and hard of the ill effects before voting to legalize this drug.

R.G. Dierdorff

Concord