MANY PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE THE REEFER MADNESS BLINDERS OFF

People like Sherry Coffin really need to take the reefer madness
blinders off. Marijuana is not a gateway drug. I choose not to use it,
but I literally know thousands of people that smoke from my 15 years
of schooling, work and music in this valley, and you know what they
do? Relax, indoors or out, from working their tails off all week. They
don't go out and rear-end your Camry, or sell dime bags to your
children, or break their sister's piggy to go blast some rails of
coke. Addicts of harder, more addictive drugs like meth or oxy do
those things, with the choices they make while under the influence of
those drugs, not marijuana.

I know people in every single business sector you can think of, of all
ages, and they are to a person responsible and capable of taking care
of all the tasks you rely on to make your life function. The trades,
the youth and middle age that build your houses and pave your roads,
they are especially populated with smokers, and after working many of
those jobs, I can tell you why. The body hurts, almost every day, and
it gets worse over time. Should they just go pop some pills and wreck
their internal organs? Maybe get drunk, because that's legal and so
preferable?

Humans find a way to do what they want. People will puff regardless of
regulations, and people will abuse whatever system is put into place,
just as addicts easily score their Oxycontin from "the best health
care system in the world," or repeat DUI offenders just keep on
driving drunk. They only effective solution is stop propagating
misinformation and fear and actually re-educate our populace on
personal responsibility and accountability. One is defined by the
choices one makes, not the plant one smokes.

Peter Simon

Bozeman