BLATANT HYPOCRISY

There has been much publicity about pot recently, with a Canadian committee
recommendation to legalize it and members of the Santa Cruz, Calif., city
council handing out free medicinal pot to selected chronically ill people.

Of course, our federal government then has to voice its opinion of how evil
this is and how it is a threat to our society.

What hypocrisy. This is the same government that subsidizes tobacco farmers
and allows alcohol to be sold just about everywhere.

I am an emergency physician who has been in the field for 11 years. I have
treated thousands of people whose lives and families have been destroyed
because of alcohol and nicotine addiction.

I cannot recall one person I have treated whose life was destroyed by
marijuana alone.

Nicotine has been shown to be more addictive than cocaine.

I am sure every person who is reading this is aware of at least one person
who is an alcoholic.

Yet these drugs are legal, while someone who smokes pot is a criminal.

There is no difference between them, except that the legal drugs cost
society much, much more.

The Centers for Disease Control recently calculated that each pack of
cigarettes sold cost over $6 in medical care and lost productivity. Where
is the public outcry to make all cigarette smokers criminals?

I am a productive member of society, but if I want to enjoy a joint on my
weekend off, I am also a criminal.

Yet I can drink myself unconscious legally.

The Canadian committee that studied whether to decriminalize pot spent two
years looking at this. The committee wasn't some fringe group or a bunch of
long-haired ex-hippies; it was a committee assigned by the Canadian parliament.

They not only concluded that pot should be decriminalized, but that it is
less dangerous than alcohol and should be legally available to responsible
adults, just as alcohol is.

What a shame I can destroy my liver and mind legally with alcohol, I can
destroy my lungs and those around me with cigarettes, but I risk going to
jail, losing my medical license and being branded a criminal if I choose to
smoke a little pot.

David Boswell, M.D.