SELF-INFLICTED HIGHS

Sunday's Special Report was interesting, but it did not address the most
important aspect of the issue ("Pot paradox," Page 1). Regardless of why
someone chooses to smoke pot, the real question at hand is this: Why should
any citizen be punished for doing something to himself?

Our politicians are making hay by claiming that we need to waste our
resources pursuing people who choose to smoke the "wrong" plant -- not
because these people are causing harm to others, but because they choose to
intoxicate themselves in an "unapproved" manner.

In a nation of supposed equals, how are we individually empowered to punish
other citizens for their self-directed acts?

Marijuana certainly causes insanity -- but not among its users. Another
brief point: The law that has made cannabis a "Schedule I narcotic" is the
Controlled Substances Act of 1970. The original Marijuana Tax Act of 1937
was declared unconstitutional. I still can't find anything in the
Constitution that grants the government the power to punish people who do
things to themselves.

BRIAN C. BENNETT Barboursville, Va.