CARTER SHOULD ALSO BE HAILED FOR PRO-POT STANCE

[Pull quote: Marijuana decriminalization had been endorsed not only by
Carter, but also the American Medical Association, the American Bar
Association and the National Council of Churches.]

Editor: Regarding ex-Pres. Jimmy Carter receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for
his efforts, toward peace in the Middle East beginning in 1978, it is
tragic that the Middle East today is seemingly even farther from peace than
it was in Carter's time, although not for want of trying.

Similarly, Carter tried to do his part to nudge our nation's war on drugs
in a more humane direction when he declared in a 1977 message to Congress,
"Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual
than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the
laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."

Unfortunately, as Rolling Stone magazine noted in a March 1999 article, the
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee had voted in October 1977 to decriminalize
marijuana, but then reversed its decision a week later, after the strenuous
objections of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Marijuana decriminalization had
been endorsed not only by Carter, but also the American Medical
Association, the American Bar Association and the National Council of Churches.

More than 25 years later we have an administration with a drug czar
flitting about North America spouting some of the most ludicrous reefer
madness lies heard since pot was first prohibited back in 1937, an attorney
general sending heavily-armed drug agents into California hospices to
terrorize terminally-ill patients and steal their medicine, and an official
policy resulting in the arrests of nearly 750,000 Americans for marijuana
possession each year. Oh yeah, and anti-drug warrior Orrin Hatch is still a
Senator and still committed to making things worse.

While some may say Carter's presidency was a bad time for America, those
days look pretty rosy in retrospect. If Carter had only prevailed on
marijuana decriminalization, this world would likely be in a lot better
place than it is today, teetering on the edge of doomsday.

Gary Storck

Madison