'POT ADVOCATE' WROTE FROM A MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE

I rise in defense of Jim Miller (Letters, July 3), whom Jerome Kellner
seems to believe is a misguided pot advocate (Letters, July 9). Miller
witnessed firsthand how medical marijuana provided relief to his late
wife, Cheryl, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, while the government did
everything it could to prevent her from obtaining it.

What this has to do with criminals in Hawaii is a mystery to everyone
except Kellner. Legalize marijuana and most kids won't "graduate" to
ice. Legalize marijuana and criminal gangs will no longer have the
profit motive to set fires and booby trap fields to protect crops that
are literally worth their weight in gold due to the economics of
prohibition.

All of this will pass, provided that we can beat back the anti-drug
warriors like Kellner. We have followed their policies for 65 years
and what do we have to show for it? The National Household Survey on
Drug Abuse discloses that kids find it easier to obtain marijuana than
alcohol or tobacco.

If this is what victory tastes like, most parents would rather smoke a
pipe load of defeat. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it gently!

Thomas J. Hillgardner

Jamaica, N.Y.