NOBODY HAS DIED FROM SMOKING POT

ASHWAUBENON - I couldn't help but laugh at John Walters' outlandish
comments about marijuana. Walters stated that more teens enter
rehabilitation centers for marijuana addiction than all other drugs
combined ("Marijuana's risks greater than believed, official says," Sept. 18).

What he isn't telling you is that they're basically forced by prison-happy
judges to attend a mandatory treatment program or else spend more time
behind bars than rapists and burglars. Not only does this distort the
statistics in favor of the prohibitionists, it also discredits and dilutes
the treatment of real addicts.

The federal government - when it's not releasing suspected terrorists back
into the wild or allowing millions of illegal aliens to waltz into the
country - continues its absolutely insane and unconstitutional war on
American citizens: breaking down the doors of homes, usurping power from
the states and simply ruining people's lives. Marijuana is a product, after
all, that was grown and consumed by the founders themselves.

Nobody has died or overdosed from smoking marijuana. How many people have
died from abusing prescription medications? How many from consuming fatty
foods? What will Walters say next, after he realizes nobody is buying his
marijuana propaganda?

Brian C. Keys