POT GIVES A HIGH, BUT IT WON'T SAVE A LIFE

After reading many letters concerning Steve Kubby, I am left with
some fantastic thoughts -- medical marijuana activists are actually
crying foul that a law enforcement organization won't allow the use
of pot in jail.

Wow. That is the second most absurd argument over the use of pot I
have ever heard. The first was regarding the individual who wanted to
use pot in a treatment facility for substance abuse to which I was privy.

Let me state my feelings on the use of pot for medicine: If a person
with some condition wants to use pot for medicine and a group of
neuro-chemical scientists can sufficiently explain how they will
reduce the symptoms, the FDA approves it and Congress makes it legal,
I will investigate my stand on the situation a little more.

Until then, all a person wants to do is get high. After all, they are
after the side effects of pot to reduce the anxiety and depression
that can come with a diagnosis. Mr. Kubby is not in a life or death
situation because he isn't stoned -- if anything he is markedly
depressed in jail and going through withdrawal.

What's wrong with Marinol anyway? It was engineered to provide all
the benefits of pot with the nasty side effects of getting high.

Maybe pot is not as socially invasive as other illicit drugs but the
damage it can cause is long term -- it's called a motivational
syndrome. Perhaps my views are slanted. I'm an addiction specialist
in a residential facility.

We should look at the message we send to children -- that pot is not
bad and the government is harming people by not letting them have it.

Anyone using pot should go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting or
contact a treatment facility. And anyone thinking of smoking pot --
please, please don't.

Travis Bailey

Foresthill