MARIJUANA VS. PRIVACY

To the editor:

Pot, marijuana, dope, hemp, weed ... is it a privacy right or is at a
social wrong?

Folks champion the issue of "privacy rights," then a child is caught
in school more than once in possession of dad's "privacy rights." Is
it a right or a wrong? Dad sits on the couch in the evening smoking
his "privacy rights" while junior is playing his video game on the
television. Is this a right or a wrong? An older grade-school boy
steals his mother's "privacy rights" and gets a 9-year-old from
another non-using family to smoke the "privacy rights" by the
neighborhood playground. Is this a right or a wrong?

Granted, if Herb is 25 and lived by himself in a cabin off the beaten
track, no one would be concerned about him smoking marijuana in his
cabin. But that's not what's happening in our Alaska homes. This whole
issue is about our children, our neighborhoods, our schools, our
churches, our communities. If something is in the house, children are
almost guaranteed to get into it. The children from the homes of the
users of marijuana are bringing it to our children whom we are trying
to protect and educate about the evils and ills of our deteriorating
society.

Fathers are more concerned about having their "toys" and "activities"
than spending the money and time on the kids. Service organizations
struggle to survive because of dwindling membership. Our society has
become selfish. We are more concerned with "me" and less concerned
with "social and family responsibility."

Individuals who don't even live in Alaska are currently financing what
is, at minimum, misleading advertisements to further pervert the issue
of "privacy rights." Please don't make me one of the few to write a
letter like this!

Come on parents.

Dave DeLany

North Pole