MOST POT USERS ARE NOT THIEVES

This is in response to the Sept. 14 letters from John Goldie of
Flatwoods, which proclaimed marijuana leads to harder drugs. The only
knowledgeable reasoning in this statement is that cannabis and harder
drugs are sold on the same market: The black market.

A drug dealer will sell harder drugs and cannabis together wherever he
can make loads of money because cannabis, along with cocaine and other
hard drugs, are illicit. To state that cannabis has some type of
mystical power over its users that would transform them into heroine
fiends or lead to an addiction to crack is bunk. It's like saying
tobacco use leads to alcoholism.

As for pot users stealing so they can afford their "fix" this argument
also has many faults. Everyone I know who smokes pot holds a steady
job, is a productive citizen and has incredibly high moral standards.
Pot is expensive because it is illegal.

A good solution would be to decriminalize cannabis and allow adults to
grow a few plants for their own personal usage. People are going to
smoke it anyway, so why waste so much tax money, police effort and
prison space on non-violent offenders when there are murderers on the
loose?

Letting adults grow their own would stop black market tainting of
cannabis and deal a major blow to organized crime. It is absurd that
in our free society people are caged for using a plant that does not
harm the person or property of another.

Remember, it was once illegal for African Americans to dine in the
same restaurants as white people. Does that mean the law was in the
right? No. In America, when it comes to civil liberties, the case is
never closed as long as consensual activities remain crimes.

J.D. BROWN

Flatwoods