POT NOT ALL THAT BAD

Regarding the Oct. 26 letter from Peter Jeneis, in which he referred
to Gloria Baraquio's comments on cannabis as "self-serving rhetoric,"
the irony of this statement and his letter are noteworthy.

He rehashed the old, worn-out "Reefer Madness" claims that domestic
violence is higher among marijuana users, property crime is higher,
violent crime is higher, marijuana leads to harder drugs, ad nauseam.

Replace "marijuana users" with "beer drinkers," and see if that line
doesn't make more sense.

Statistics can be used to satisfy any agenda. For example, how about
this: Statistics show that most meth users used marijuana first,
therefor marijuana leads to meth use. Statistics also show that most
meth users drank milk as children, therefore drinking milk leads to
meth use.

I'd bet anything that most meth users drank beer before they started
on meth. Didja ever know that beer was such nasty stuff?

Mr. Jeneis closed his letter by saying, "Marijuana use is frequently a
companion to antisocial behavior." I'd bet it wouldn't be difficult to
come up with tons of data showing that beer drinking leads to more
antisocial behavior.

Skip Thomsen

Hilo