IF SMOKING POT EASES THE PAIN OF AGING, PUFF AWAY

Regarding "Just say no to marijuana initiative rhetoric" [Oct. 3]: I don't
smoke pot. I don't use tobacco. A big bottle of rum to flavor my tea and
baking lasts me a year. I don't have bill collectors coming to my door.
I've had no moving traffic violations during my 47 years in Southern
Nevada. In other words, I'm a responsible citizen. Democracy requires
responsibility. Our country promotes democracy throughout the world to
provide all people with freedom. And freedom is what I want when it comes
to the marijuana initiative in the coming election.

I'm old. Though healthy now, I would use marijuana to provide comfort for
the aches and pains of aging. I've spoken with several people whose family
members suffered severe pain prior to death and wanted sufficient marijuana
as a palliative without side effects. State licensing will allow doctors to
prescribe it, and state oversight will assure a product without dangerous
additives.

We're in scaredy-cat mode these days - we're fixated on what might happen.
Now is the time to protect our freedoms by exercising them. Decriminalizing
the use of marijuana should not depend on what the police and other
authorities see in their crystal ball. Parents or individuals should have
the responsibility of dealing with alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana in the
privacy of their homes.

This is a democracy. We don't need Taliban kind of control from our
authorities that results in suffering and loss of personal freedom.

- -Eugenie Throckmorton

Las Vegas