PROP. 203 COULD BE 'GATEWAY PROPOSITION'

To the editor: In response to Mr. Phillips' recent column in support
of Prop. 203, the medical marijuana initiative, a few facts left out
of the column need to be addressed.

First of all, the column states that law enforcement officers profit
from marijuana being illegal. Law enforcement officers don't profit
from drug arrests, citations, warnings or anything else they do on a
daily basis to help society.

Secondly, using marijuana increases the user's risk of having an
immediate heart attack, decreases learning ability, increases heart
rate and blood pressure, distorts the user's perception, slows
reaction times -- these are only the short-term side effects.

Marijuana smoke contains 50 percent more carcinogens than that of
tobacco smoke and, according to the DEA, marijuana's costs to society
total over $200 billion every year, far more than the few million
dollars marijuana taxes would earn us.

There are more than a dozen different legal drugs someone suffering
from the diseases outlined in the proposition could take to treat
their illness. And one could always take a cannabis supplement or
pill, but it's really not about the medical cannabis treatment now, is
it?

What is making marijuana legal really about then? Voters beware,
especially since marijuana is known as the "gateway drug." I hope
Prop. 203 doesn't become the "gateway proposition."

STEPHEN ROBSON

Flagstaff