MARIJUANA INITIATIVE HOODWINKED VOTERS

I have often wondered why 62 percent of Montana voters voted for
legalizing marijuana rather than against. Therefore, I stopped at the
courthouse (Room 101) and asked for a sample of the Nov. 2, 2004,
official ballot, which contains Initiative 148 about legalizing marijuana.

Whoever wrote the definition of 148, explaining the need for
legalizing marijuana carte blanche, must have unknowingly financially
helped the growers of the hemp plant and opened up a Pandora's box,
especially for the youth of Montana.

The voters of Montana are always ready to be of assistance to the
sick senior people, and 62 percent voted for legalizing marijuana and
failed to read between the lines of 148. Thirty-eight percent voted
against and refused to be hoodwinked by the wording of the initiative.

Marijuana is a habit-forming drug. For our young people to try it and
be overwhelmed by it will lead them to becoming hopheads (a slang
word for drug addict). Putting the word "medical" in front of the
word "marijuana" is misleading and, in my opinion, a misnomer.

Robert G. Orlando

Billings