POT SMOKESCREEN

Hooray for Nevada ("Going to pot?: Nevada's permissive culture aids
marijuana-legalization proposal," Sunday, Insight).

Demonizing Nevada is a smokescreen that hides the issue of responsible
adults' rights. President Nixon started his war on drugs and had the
Shaffer Commission look at marijuana. Its findings suggested relaxation of
laws against marijuana use but were silenced to not interrupt the
president's other "war.

"The Drug Enforcement Administration has hampered medical use, and its
leader, Asa Hutchinson, disbelieves all research that shows marijuana's
utility. The DEA has collaborated with groups opposed to ballot proposals
on drug law reform, perhaps violating federal law.

As a researcher in a National Institute of Health study in the 1980s that
investigated possible uses of marijuana, I am appalled by the government's
bastardization of the facts. There is no addiction to marijuana; the
withdrawal from alcohol or nicotine is much worse.

The "military-drug enforcement complex" reaps millions from seizure and
sales of assets of traffickers. Grass-roots organizations must force
changes in federal drug laws. Europe and Canada have, and it's time we
consider it.

R.E. Phelps

Helotes