STOP INTERFACING WITH A CRIMINAL ELEMENT

ERIN MCBRIDE has no cause to call today's youth lazy and stupid (Letters,
May 21). I have found today's youth to be energized, enthusiastic,
involved, and highly intelligent. The issue of legalization of marijuana
is, quite simply, the same as it was for the legalization of liquor. We
don't wish our engaging 14-year-olds to be drowning in vodka, but, at the
same time, the adults of our community should have the right to personal
medical sovereignty and the right to choose their form of recreation,
whether it be tennis, bridge, buying porn at an adult video store or the
consumption of alcohol or marijuana. The issue is this: if your 14-year-old
is rolling up a joint illegally, it means he is currently interfacing with
a criminal element. Under decriminalization, they will most assuredly be
interfacing with an even more vicious criminal element, since the
government's amended plan for decriminalization stresses tougher
enforcement on dealers and growers. We should be courageous enough to take
this one and put it on the shelf, right next to the scotch. I don't want my
child buying pot from the Hells Angels.

David W. Leigh

(Who would?)