LEAVE MARIJUANA EXPERIMENTATION TO SCIENTISTS

I agree with Aaron J. Byzak and with addiction doctors and mental
health professionals: The cost of legalization of marijuana is much
too high. Ask anyone who has had a marriage collapse, a child impaired
or a near-miss on the roads because someone drove when he was loaded.
The impact of a marijuana-smoking family member on the family unit is
under-studied, but that impact is always negative. The impact of
smoking anything has been studied: It leaves a legacy of health
problems, mental and physical.

Leave marijuana experimentation to the scientists. If medical
marijuana is useful in catastrophic illnesses like multiple sclerosis
and cancer treatments, medical science will find a way to safely
prescribe and regulate medical marijuana for the few people who truly
need it. The rest of us need to look at society's ills from a
stone-cold-sober point of view. And marijuana takes a terrible toll on
our youth and on families of so-called "recreational" users, not to
mention the overall health and well-being of society.

Don't legalize marijuana. Keep young people, families, and those who
must navigate traffic in cars safe.

Terry Tucker Hinkley

San Diego