OBFUSCATION, DELAY, DECEIT

Re "Pot measure stuck at starting line," Dec. 26: Regarding our cannabis
laws, it is quite clear that obfuscation, delay and deceit will continue to
rule the day. The bad faith dealings will continue for the foreseeable
future, or at least until all of the users are incarcerated or dead.

Cannabis is harmless, yet even medical use is denied. This is truly reefer
madness. It is cannabis prohibition that is lethal.

California decriminalized cannabis in 1975 and then legalized medical use
in 1996. These tepid moves have been effectively neutralized by
prohibitionists dependent on the drug war for their paychecks. In a free
country the right of a citizen to control what he ingests would be
sacrosanct. But instead of freedom, here we have the appetite police in
charge of our diets.

"Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies
would be in such keeping as our souls are now." -- Thomas Jefferson

Jay Bergstrom, Sacramento