PAKALOLO IS DANGEROUS AND SHOULD BE ILLEGAL

Your May 23 editorial on stopping the assault on medical marijuana is
completely off the mark. Marijuana and tobacco are the two big gateway drugs
to smokable forms of ice and heroin, and it doesn't take a genius to figure
out why.

Forget arguments about whether marijuana leads to other drugs. Marijuana is
part and parcel of an entire drug culture that is tearing apart the fabric
of this society.

Inhaling any substance into the lungs other than clean air is misguided, and
marijuana tar is at least as bad as that of tobacco. As a medical treatment,
smoking marijuana is ridiculous. There are legitimate pharmaceutical drugs
for people with medical needs. And these should be prescribed by licensed
physicians, not some imbeciles on the Big Island who have made marijuana
smoking a sacrament in their "church."

Marijuana is an insidious, dangerous drug on its own, as well as a mixer for
other drugs, including alcohol and all the illegal ones. Advocating
marijuana use in any form, including medical, legitimizes its use across the
board and is a horrible idea. Your editorial does a great disservice to this
society.

Jerome Kellner

Makawao, Maui