MARIJUANA ARGUMENTS ENTERTAIN

Dear Editor:

Some positions on the marijuana issue are just so entertaining.

The argument runs like this: "Medical Marijuana dispensaries have no
record of causing trouble; they offer relief from pain, disease and
sleeplessness to thousands of clients, they pay much-needed tax
revenue, so we need to shut them down."

When did that start making sense?

Medical and scientific journals steadily report new findings that
medical marijuana isn't addictive, isn't a "gateway drug" and is
highly effective in treating hundreds of afflictions from pain to cancer.

But we need to protect our community from exposure to this demon drug.

What kind of person does this make sense to?

Our local government struggles to provide services taxpayers want,
but some of those taxpayers want to shut down six viable taxpaying
businesses. The logic behind this argument would be what, exactly?

Marijuana has a vastly better record than alcohol and tobacco when it
comes to health, safety and addictive behavior, but somehow, "We're
better off without the dispensaries, although so far we've never had
any problems with our six shops."

That's right up there with the Salida code enforcement record of
keeping us all safe from the potential dangers of uncontrolled
birdhouse sales by little boys.

If we really are worried about well-being of our youths, let's shut
down all the liquor and tobacco sales.

Every year, The Mountain Mail reports alcohol-related driving
fatalities, especially of teenagers, and dozens more get addicted to
cigarettes.

But there's no issue with that; cheap beer and cigarettes cure just
which diseases? Still, we need to shut down those dispensaries.

What is it about other peoples' use of marijuana that stops some
peoples' ability to think? What makes medical marijuana different
from liquor and tobacco?

There's an old phrase that answers that question: "They must be
smoking dope." A better answer is that marijuana, unlike alcohol and
tobacco, never caused the health and safety problems that support
government bureaucracies, and ever since Prohibition days, medical
marijuana has been the target of government officials without enough to do.

Gosh, Prohibition worked so well (creating the black market that
created the Mafia), and the War on Drugs eliminated drug abuse. Sure.

Just like our successful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So let's
perpetuate the lunacy, ban medical marijuana, and keep that black
market healthy.

I have difficulty understanding how Salida will "lose our vacation
destination charm" and presumably the associated tourism revenue.
Remove six dispensary signs and the Collegiate Peaks, the Sangre de
Cristos and the Arkansas River just magically disappear.

Does the author of that nonsense really believe that Sunday school
classes from Alamosa are the big spenders here?

He hasn't tried to terminate liquor licenses, and if he doesn't think
our kids don't already have plenty of access to pot, (just like
booze), he's completely out of touch with our youth.

We never need to look far for entertainment when we have so many
officials struggling to maintain the illusion of usefulness.

Ed Berg,

Salida