THE DANGER OF ALCOHOL, THE PROBLEM WITH PROHIBITION

Re: "The Ganja Guru: If only truth could set him free" by Myriam Marquez
(column, May 27).

Myriam Marquez points out vividly how justice is not only blind but also
monumentally stupid at times. The only shortcoming of her argument was that
she omitted one important fact.

Marquez says, "While certainly not healthy to the lungs and the body if
abused, (marijuana) comes nowhere close to the severe medical effects and
societal chaos that, say, cocaine or heroine can cause." She's right on
that account, but fails to mention the drug that causes far more severe
medical effects and societal chaos than all other drugs: alcohol.

Ask any police officer if alcohol isn't the fuel behind more robberies,
murders, traffic deaths, suicides and domestic violence than marijuana.

Don't be fooled by the current spate of government antimarijuana
advertisements. The one that purports to follow the trail from the teen
buying a joint to a murder somewhere neglects to take the logic to the
final step: No murder would have occurred if marijuana weren't illegal, as
we quickly learned from Prohibition.