SOME RECREATIONAL DRUGS GET A PASS

I'm writing about: "2 new Viagra rivals heading for U. S. market"
(Tribune, Aug. 23)

Viagra, Levitra and Cialis are all recreational drugs. All are
designed for the sole purpose of giving or enhancing pleasure.

So why are some recreational drugs given approval by our governmental
agencies and not others? It's not safety, because in the few short
years that Viagra has been available, it has caused more deaths than
marijuana, which has been used for over five thousands of years, with
no documented deaths.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in 2000 George W.
Bush received greater than $477,000 from the pharmaceutical industry
and nothing from the marijuana industry. (See the web site
http://www.saynotodrugs.org).

Perhaps? Perhaps, perhaps is the wrong word.

Kirk Muse,

Mesa