MANY SUBSTANCES KILL; NOT MARIJUANA

Alcohol, prescription drugs, household cleaning products, spray paint,
over-the-counter cough medicine -- what do these products have in common?
If you don't know, you should ask your kids.

These substances have become the drugs of choice for kids because they're
cheap, readily available in almost every home, and kids are willing to
ignore the fact they can overdose and die using them every bit as easy as
with cocaine or heroin, even the first time. They know none of these will
show up if they're drug tested at school or work -- and they won't go to
jail if they're caught.

Not by coincidence this is the 65th anniversary of a war against what the
Bush administration calls a "greater danger to the United States than
heroin, cocaine or amphetamines," a plant designed and created by God on
the second day, cannabis sativa, also called marijuana.

Cannabis has a recorded history of use that dates back for thousands of
years, even during the times of Moses and Jesus. Its role in medicine and
agriculture was undisputed and unequaled until the 20th century. The same
plant that substantially benefited mankind for millennia suddenly became
characterized as the drug that was destroying peoples' lives. The story
hasn't changed nor the problem remedied despite billions spent trying and
over 700,000 arrests for cannabis last year alone.

After 6,000 years of use we're still told we don't know enough about
cannabis, but there are some things we do know: There has never been a
documented death directly related to cannabis use. Not from overdose,
allergic reaction, drug interaction, cancer or any other disease.

This isn't what we hear from the government down to the D.A.R.E. officers,
who disseminate the hyperbole that cannabis is "no different from other
illegal drugs" and "all drugs kill."

The plant God created is filling our prisons, (where drugs are readily
available), not the cemeteries, but advertisements for the legal chemicals
that kill thousands of kids, including Cale Gormley, are filling the
airwaves. What kind of message is that sending the kids?

Carl Smith, Ozark