DRUG CZAR ISN'T HERE TO TELL US WHAT TO THINK

This letter is to voice my disgust at the federal government's abuse
of our tax dollars by sending the Office of National Drug Control
Policy's own deputy drug czar, Scott Burns, on a rampage of lies
through our state (Missoulian, Oct. 7).

Burns was sent here as a result of the voter initiative brought about
by the citizens of Montana concerning the protection of users of
medical marijuana from federal agents like these. Burns made three
stops in Montana during which he demonized those citizens by stating,
"This is a con," and "it's about the children."

Well let me say, it is about the children, and the children have
nothing to fear from a state that is compassionate for its own
suffering people. Burns also stated, "smoking this weed is not a
medicine." Well, not according to the American Nurses Association and
countless other reputable sources, whose medical opinion I trust far
more than Burns'. How does Burns respond to Teresa Michalski, whose
son, Travis, died last year due to Hodgkin's? Prescription medicines
didn't help his nausea, his pain, or his appetite loss - but medical
marijuana did.

Simply put, Initiative 148 is trying to protect the sick and dying
from being caught up in our government's failed "war on drugs." I
don't pay my federal tax dollars to be told how I should feel.

Adam Jones, Lolo