POT MARS HEALTH, JUDGMENT

I am writing in response to Pamela Bruce's July 19 letter to the
editor, "Why not just legalize it?" There are a few good reasons to
not legalize marijuana.

I, too, have been around people for years who have smoked marijuana,
some of them close friends. What I observed in them was that even
casual marijuana use damages the lungs, causes memory loss, changes a
person's ability to think and impairs their judgment. Just because a
few people you know use it and hold down a job does not mean it is
good for them or for our society.

Marijuana use is not the same as drinking. A person can have a drink
and not get drunk. As soon as a person smokes marijuana, their
thinking is impaired. I for one do not want people who are impaired
diagnosing an illness, filling a prescription or even servicing a car
while impaired because our society has made it legal and therefore
said this is OK.

Brenda L. Sublette

Redding