HEALTH HAZARD

District Judge Thomas Gilbert offered a valid explanation as to why, despite
his own behavior, he does not endorse legalizing or promoting use of
marijuana.

"It's against the law and it should remain against the law," Gilbert told
the Record-Eagle. "It's illegal, it's unhealthy, and to a lot of citizens,
it's morally wrong."

Interestingly, as a former member of the Traverse City City Commission,
Gilbert rejected such reasoning about a far deadlier health hazard, that
being homosexual behavior. Homosexual sodomy remains a felony violation of
state law.

Individuals who engage in homosexual behavior experience dramatically higher
risks of domestic violence, mental illness, life-threatening disease, and
premature death by as much as 20 years (three times the number of years put
at risk by smoking).

And clearly, a lot of citizens consider homosexual behavior morally wrong.

So why - on the basis of Judge Gilbert's "illegal, unhealthy, and immoral"
reasoning - should society discourage smoking marijuana but protect and
encourage the far greater health hazard of homosexual behavior?

Bill Wiesner

Traverse City