MANNIX PLAN HAIRBRAINED FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To the editor:

Kudos to the Newberg Graphic for printing David Sale's excellent
article, "Taking up the fight to protect medical Marijuana (June 30),
on Kevin Mannix' latest attempt to destroy the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Act.

Mannix, an apparent lobbyist for our nation's drug war industry and
corporate pharmaceutical giants, once again seeks to take pot away
from Oregon's patients. After a failed attempt in 1999 Mannix has
returned and this time he seeks to replace the nation's most
successful medical cannabis program by coupling it to the
methamphetamine problem.

Unfortunately, the proposed initiative would only increase the burden
on Oregon taxpayers by removing a program that actually is
self-supporting and increasing the burden on a prison system that
already costs more than we spend on higher education.

Perhaps Mr. Mannix and his associates can explain how his plan will
benefit our state by increasing state costs at a time when we are
making across the board cuts in programs and services essential to our
cities and counties.

Allan Erickson, Drug Policy Forum of Oregon, Eugene