OUR 2003 SILVER PEN AWARD WINNERS

Whenever any newspaper editor or reporter is feeling self-important and
tempted to puff up like a toad (or a TV pundit), there is always that one
thing to keep us honest and humble about what we do for a living.

Every time a newspaper surveys it's readers to see what they do and do not
like, one feature invariably leads the pack of favorites. It is the letters
to the editor, the only part of the paper not written by professionals

The letters section is where average people get a chance to shoot off their
mouths right next to the columnists and editorial writers, sometimes
balancing the often more predictable thoughts of the presumed experts.
Their feelings reflect public opinion in a deeply textured way that no poll
could ever duplicate.

So we decided to recognize our letter writers. There are prizes, after all,
for other contributions to the paper far less read than the letters.

Letters editor John Jurich has been squrirreling away the best letters for
the past year. The only criterion to be included among the best is that a
letter have a strong opinion, clearly and strongly expressed.

It was not an easy task, but what he came up with is the first winners of
The Star-Ledger's Silver Pen Awards, recognizing the 10 best letters of the
past year. We have also assembled an honor roll, recognizing letters of
nearly equal merit.

These are letters to be proud of. They are proof that people without
government titles are far smarter than they are given credit for, that
democracy thrives as long as we have such people taking part in the
national dialogue. We are proud to honor these writers.--Richard Aregood

ACCEPTABLE MEDICINE

Dr. George DiFerdinando, the state's deputy health commissioner, decided
last year that seriously ill and dying patients in New Jersey do not need
marijuana as medicine. He said there were acceptable alternatives for those
who would use marijuana as medicine and refused to implement New Jersey's
1981 Controlled Dangerous Substances Therapeutic Research Act, which would
make legal federal marijuana available to patients in New Jersey under a
doctor's care and supervision.

DiFerdinando met my wife Cheryl three years ago as she lay in her reclining
wheelchair. She could not move her arms or legs after 30 years of multiple
sclerosis. He saw her pain. He heard her tell him that marijuana relieved
her pain and spasticity. He sure didn't tell Cheryl to her face that she
already had "acceptable medicine." Cheryl Miller, my wife and the light of
my life, passed away June 7. I can assure you her legal prescription
medicine was not acceptable. Cheryl didn't smoke marijuana. She ate it.
When it was available, she had less pain. Now that was acceptable.

Jim Miller, June 25.

Miller, 51, is a carpenter. A Silverton resident, he works with the
Multiple Sclerosis Patients Union, a group advocating legalized medical
marijuana.