MARIJUANA FACTS

To the editor:

Senate Bill 74 and House Bill 96, both currently in committee, are
irresponsible and mean-spirited attempts by Gov. Murkowski and our
complacent and, in some cases, complicit legislators to create
criminals while ignoring sound science and the federal government's
past findings.

The proposed amendment is rife with vagaries and statements based more
on popular propaganda than rationality.

One portion states: "There is evidence that it has addictive
properties similar to heroin." The problem with this statement,
besides that it is pure conjecture, is that it conflicts with the vast
evidence to the contrary provided by federal studies. Of note, one
should look up "The Truth About Pot," Popular Science, 192:76-79
(1968), National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (1972), and
"An Analysis of Marijuana Policy" by the National Research Council
Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior (1982).

I have written my senator and representative, and both have been
predictably silent in response. That our Republican form of government
perpetuates fallacy over sound, unbiased conclusion in a dictatorial
manner, it is little wonder that there is a tendency these days to
disregard the rule of law.

ANDREW KROHN

Fairbanks