ALCOHOL MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN MARIJUANA

Dear Editor,

Have you ever really wondered why smoking herb is a crime?

I read an article "Alcohol consumes night life" in the East Tennessean
about Samara Litvack's justification for her abuse of the hazily joyful
substance known as alcohol.

Forever has this substance been used in various forms of liquid to
deteriorate inhibition and make life seem more fun than it actually is.
Alcohol is the delightful serum that has killed many and savagely killed
many more due to misjudged driving abilities.

How can this substance stay legal and remain a staple in our social scenes?

Well, the almighty dollar wins again.

While you are drinking your beer for $3, the government, the bar owner and
the beer companies are all having an orgy on top of your money.

Why dwell on the consequences when the dollars keep flowing in?

OK, now I am about to say a dirty word, so if you get offended easily you
might want to skip the rest of this sentence: Marijuana.

The lovely green plant that has grown wild throughout this world for
thousands of years, makes watching TV fun and the mass-produced fast food
slop taste like your mother's home cooking.

A person can frequent a bar, each time leaving so mangled that they trip
when they try to get in their car and people simply laugh.

Another person can enjoy their daily bong and they are quickly deemed a
dirty stoner, losing all their credibility as an intelligent person.

How many people do you think have died from smoking pot?

Well aside from those 80-year-old potheads that die from lung cancer, none.

I would love to see a person overdose on marijuana; it would be very
entertaining to watch someone smoke a pound by themselves in one sitting.
They would most likely die of a heart attack from all the potato chips first.

In my personal experience with alcoholics, I have seen the transformation
that a person goes through from sobriety to the consumption of each drink
till the case is gone.

Your everyday peaceful Joe Shmoe turns into nothing shy of a gorilla in heat.

You know what a pothead turns into after the dime bag is gone? A couch.

As the drinker gets all riled up and ready to fight anything that moves;
the pothead can't stop laughing at the Chihuahua with a bow on his head on
Animal Planet.

It has always puzzled me why everyone gets so uptight about the idea of
someone going home after a long day at school or work and rolling a joint.
He isn't going anywhere.

He isn't going insane and unleashing a ballistic rampage on the community.
He is relaxing in his chair and enhancing the music that is playing through
his stereo.

All the music that we enjoy, at least all good music was created at some
time after the band stopped and got high.

Music and weed go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you don't
believe me, find a copy of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and turn it
to the second track and listen.

Legalize it! Why not?

For you that don't want to smoke it, imagine all the extra money that the
government would receive from marijuana taxation.

The beer and liquor companies know that they would be in financial danger,
because if you could walk into a store and had a choice between a bottle of
Jack Daniels that will lead you straight to the toilet or a pack of finely
rolled northern lights, what would you choose?

Marijuana is more widely used than you would suspect. Many accomplished
adults enjoy the sweet cheeba every once in a while. I know this for a fact.

Why should we restrict them or how do we even have the right when alcohol
and the completely useless tobacco are bought and consumed at enormous rates.

I'm not saying that tobacco and alcohol should be illegalized, I'm just
saying don't be so hard on your local long-haired, tie-dye wearer; they are
people too.

Miles Cramer