READERS WEIGH IN ON POT LEGALIZATION PLAN

Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick has stated that the current
initiative to legalize marijuana is just the beginning of an effort to
legalize all drugs. Where does he get this inside information? I have been
involved in the medical marijuana movement for a long time and I can't ever
remember anyone saying anything about legalizing anything other than
marijuana. In 1996, California passed Proposition 215 the first medical
marijuana bill in this country. The opponents like Barry McCaffery and Dan
Lungren used the same argument, that this was just the beginning of an
effort to legalize all drugs.

Well, Proposition 215 passed six years ago and since that time there has
not been one bill or one proposition or one piece of legislation to
legalize any other drug proposed in California or anywhere else in this
world. It just is not happening, but yet Mr. Gammick claims that legalizing
all drugs is the real goal. I wish he would tell us where he gets this
information.

Tom Seiler

Reno
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"Officials slam marijuana ballot question," July 21 RGJ: Just as marijuana
has been erroneously branded a "gateway" drug for decades (the real
"gateway" drugs are alcohol and tobacco), marijuana decriminalization is
now being touted by drug war addicted law enforcement officials as the
"gateway" to a comprehensive legalization of all illicit drugs. With more
than 62,000 arrests every month, marijuana is the backbone of the drug war
skeleton. Never in American history, and seldom in world history, has there
been such massive persecution and prosecution. Lose the marijuana bogeyman
and the drug war deflates overnight.

It is supremely ironic and a thing of beauty that Nevada, once the most
marijuana intolerant of states, is now poised on the threshold of a cutting
edge tolerance that will inevitably be imitated by all the other states.
One of histories most futile, costly and ridiculous prohibitions is finally
coming to an end in Nevada.

William E. Hall

Sparks
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Now that our esteemed federal officials have had their say about the
initiative to decriminalize cannabis, I'd like to offer another view. The
feds are concerned about Nevada turning into another Amsterdam. As someone
who has actually visited that fair city, I can truthfully say that I felt
safer walking the streets of Amsterdam at 1 a.m. looking for a hotel room
than I feel walking the streets of my hometown at dusk. But that's
subjective, so let's look at some facts. Dutch teenagers smoke cannabis at
about half the rate of U.S. teens. The Dutch have fewer drug-related
deaths. Crack and methamphetamine are virtually nonexistent, and there are
no drug gangs killing innocents in drive-by shootings.

The Dutch model shows that separating cannabis from the so-called "hard"
drugs discourages the use of those drugs. The state initiative conflicts
with federal law, but that's the point. We have to send a message to our
representatives in Washington that we're tired of the police state and we
want to look at other ways of dealing with the issue.

Christopher Bellecy

Carson City
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Naturally, District Attorney Richard Gammick would oppose legalizing three
ounces or less of marijuana. He comes from law enforcement, and any
diminishment of policing power troubles such people. The United States
spends billions of dollars each year on drug interdiction, while the
problems of drug experimentation, use and addiction worsen, and only a tiny
portion of the money goes toward treatment for those who want to stop
using. Marijuana is far less addictive than the very- legal Budweiser most
law enforcement officers have now in their refrigerators. Wasting Nevada's
scarce money on arresting, booking and jailing harmless marijuana users is
a travesty, and if most criminals incur a marijuana charge only after
they're picked up for something else, then that just means more money to
fully prosecute the other crime. Remember folks, Prohibition didn't work.

Ann Larson

Reno