MARIJUANA: A COMMUNITY GOES TO POT

Sometimes people are so busy trying to prove how open-minded they are, they
lose sight of common sense.

Mayor Christopher Krohn of Santa Cruz, Calif., is that way. Krohn presided
over a medical marijuana party recently in which city leaders passed out
pot to about a dozen sick people at City Hall.

"Santa Cruz is a special place, and today we're letting people know how
compassionate we can be," Krohn told about 1,000 people gathered for the
occasion. "We're taking a stand."

Marijuana is illegal as a medicine or as a recreational drug under federal
law. Under California law, however, and county and city ordinances, it's
legal if used for medicine.

By contrast, in Washington federal officials were busy warning parents
Tuesday against making light of the dangers of marijuana to their kids,
pointing out in the process that more teen-agers are addicted to pot than
to alcohol or all other illegal drugs combined.

Surgeon General Richard Carmona said that a common misperception about
smoking marijuana is that it's less dangerous than smoking cigarettes.

That's just not true, he explained. Marijuana contains three to five times
more tar and carbon monoxide than a comparable amount of tobacco. It also
affects the brain in ways similar to cocaine and heroin.

"Marijuana is not a rite of passage, but a dangerous behavior that could
have serious health consequences," he commented. "Parents must realize that
what they tell their children about drug use makes a difference."

Dr. Richard Corlin, a former president of the American Medical Association,
urged parents, teachers, doctors and anyone else working with children to
stop sending conflicting signals.

"We must lead by example and not use marijuana ourselves or condone its use
by anyone of any age," he added.

Mayor Krohn took a silly stand, and in the process, the signal he sent to
the children of Santa Cruz was more crazy than compassionate.

It's a sad day in America when her leaders, instead of extolling virtue,
espouse vice, and instead of teaching kids to be law-abiding, teach them to
rebel against the laws of the land. It's downright dangerous when our
politicians start encouraging the use of an illegal substance, which can
wreck the minds, the health and the well-being of our children.

Instead of taking a mindless stand for what's wrong, the mayor and other
Santa Cruz leaders should have been taking heed of what they were advocating.

We reap the fruit of what we sow in this life, and we have a sinking
feeling Santa Cruz is about to reap the bitter fruit of folly.