STONE SHOULD STOP FIGHTING PEOPLE'S WILL

The people of California have spoken loudly in approving the medical
use of marijuana. In downgrading its possession from a felony to a
misdemeanor, they have said its use is no longer to be taken as a
deadly sin. They have instructed the courts to consider treatment
rather than imprisonment as the preferred method of dealing with drug
offenders.

So what is the point of preferring felonious criminal punishment for
cancer patients using marijuana when such punishment has been utterly
ineffective even against hard drug users?

Fifty-one percent of U.S. students admit having used an illegal drug,
and the government says we are the midst of a terrible public health crisis.

Treating drug abuse as criminal has created massive disrespect for
the law along with an underground economy estimated in the trillions
of dollars. It has corrupted governments all over the hemisphere and
filled our jails to the point we can no longer build them fast enough
or keep up with the expense.

County Supervisor Jeff Stone has squawked the loudest about these
costs, but now, apparently, proposes to put cancer patients into the
mix of his proposed tent-city jails, feed them beans and cornbread,
and make them wear pink jumpsuits. I would like to know what theory
of rehabilitation he relies upon for the view that adding layers of
humiliation to jail time or being a cancer patient will benefit
anyone but the mean-spirited among us.

GERALD SUMMERS

Temecula