ICE FROM MARIJUANA?

Editor:

So, marijuana eradication continues. Guess they haven't seen the bumper sticker
"Thanks Green Harvest, now my kid smokes ice." Will people ever learn that you
can't legislate morality. They say marijuana is the "gateway" drug, but I think
it starts with cigarettes and alcohol, both of which are physically addictive
while marijuana has been proven neither physically nor psychologically
addictive. The only problem I have seen marijuana cause is a police record.

I have seen too many of my friends and family die from cigarettes and alcohol,
yet never anyone from marijuana. People have been growing pot on the island for
many years with no crime increase (except arrests for pot) and no violence
increase. Now we have a major drug problem and they are still chasing marijuana
growers.

If those police officers in Hilo are bored, they could offer to help their
overworked colleagues in South Kona, where we have two officers for 10,000
people and the highest incidence of ice abuse in the nation.

Let's get off the marijuana eradication and start dealing with real crime. We
have had two armed robberies, many break-ins, increased child and family abuse,
and possibly one murder in the Honaunau area in the past month, all related to
ice, and yet the Hilo police are still chasing pot growers. I don't get it.

Miles Mulcahy

Captain Cook