DIFFERENT VIEWS

To the Editor:

On August 25 the Ukiah Daily Journal printed a letter written by
Richard Cowan, the former National Director of NORML. The following is
a collection of different perspectives on the topic of "Medical Marijuana."

In his article, Mr. Cowan states that the Bush administration has
adopted a "Go ahead and die" approach toward those who are "smoking"
marijuana for their health. I wish Mr. Cowan had taken the time to let
us know which fatal maladies marijuana is supposed to cure.

Now that the laws that restrict marijuana in Mendocino County are
fewer than ever before, the problems we are encountering from pot are
more widespread and larger than ever before.

Mr. Cowan goes on to talk about "ancient rights" and says the freedom
to grow pot is as important as our nation's freedom of the press. He
even infers that pot dealers and the likes of Alexander Hamilton
(United States Founding Father and Leading Statesman) are made of the
same stuff. He then states that if pot were to be supplied by the
government it would be a great boon to organized crime. Obviously he
is unaware of what is going on in Mendocino today.

Mr. Cowan also says he is disturbed by anyone's assertion that "anyone
who takes even (one thin dime) in return, for growing pot is nothing
more than a drug dealer." Someone needs to tell Mr. Cowan that the
profits being made by these pot dealers are a lot more than one thin
dime. For Mendocino County alone, the profits from pot alone are in
the tens of billions, and more than half of that comes from school
kids across the nation. The pot growers want us to just be quietly
happy with the big money we are receiving from school kids' pockets. I
think Mendocino County would be better off if we put all these drug
dealers out of business and just gave Marinol, (pill form THC ) out
for free to all those that could prove they would benefit from it.

I know first hand that many of the growers in Mendocino County today
were attracted here from other states and countries by the slack
marijuana laws we have. I hope we never slack off on our laws against
pedophiles. It appears that Mr. Cowan sends us his wisdom from Palm
Springs, Calif.

I think the editor's note at the end of Mr. Cowan's article shed
immense light on the real wisdoms that we in Mendocino County have to
focus on.

I think it even bears repeating.

"Editor's response: I'm guessing that in Palm Springs you don't have
people crawling over each other to get to the pot gardens in their
neighborhoods, shooting each other, or polluting lands and streams
with dumped fuel oil from illegal generating facilities. I'm guessing
that in Palm Springs your pot supplies are likely grown right here in
Mendocino County and packaged nicely for you. Those people who stemmed
and seeded it were not overflowing the Palm Springs soup kitchens and
I'm guessing they wouldn't be allowed to stand around the corners in
your town all during September and October, or camp in your shopping
mall parking lots and in your parks. The people in this county have
seen the results of legalized medical marijuana gone out of control.
We are as compassionate as the next community, but we know a scam when
we see one."

Marc Parsley

Willits