READERS SOUND OFF ON POT ISSUE

Do you care whether a candidate for office ever smoked marijuana? Under
what circumstances do you think this is a legitimate question in a campaign?

Would it affect your vote if you learned a candidate smoked marijuana years
ago?

I don't care if someone running for political office smoked marijuana.What
does bug me, though, is the way they bring it out. Bill Clinton: "I never
inhaled." I wouldn't buy a used car from this man. Rod Blagojevich: "I only
tried it a couple of times, didn't like it." Maybe, but who really keeps
track of these kinds of things?

It was nice Rod came forward, but I think he had ulterior motives, like
maybe someone threatened to bring out this fact, so being a good
politician, a good offense is the best defense.

Rod pre-empted the attack. Respected "nonrunner" Carl Sagan said he smoked
marijuana on a regular basis, said it expanded the mind, but you see our
politicians don't want anyone "expanding their minds" - they want us to
watch and believe the tripe they put out on CNN and shrink our minds
watching senseless sitcoms and professional sports.

One thing I can say for sure, though, there were 734,497 arrests made in
year 2000 for marijuana. Somebody is making money, and I am not talking
about the dealers, but the other criminals.

Brad Wargin, Frankfort