Marijuana

DEMONIZED PLANT HELPS THE SICK

Your July 24 story on marijuana eradication, "Drug busters gang up on
marijuana," was a feeble, one-sided advertisement for the attack on a plant
that was purposefully put here by God, and thrives despite billions of
dollars spent trying to eliminate it. There are other current stories that
shed a different light on this controversial plant. Although nine states
allow the use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation, Attorney General
John Ashcroft has ordered the arrest and incarceration of the sick and
dying. The California Supreme Court ruled that patients have the right to
use marijuana, and officials in San Francisco are contemplating growing it
themselves.

The state of Nevada is going one step further, voting on a constitutional
amendment to completely legalize the possession for adults of up to three
ounces. It would be sold only in licensed shops, and sales by individuals,
public smoking and driving under the influence would remain illegal. Nearly
75,000 valid signatures were turned in to get it on the ballot.

Several members of Congress, along with former Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger,
support legislation called the States Rights to Medical Marijuana Act.
Nofziger said he was in favor because marijuana made life bearable for his
dying daughter, and that meant a lot to his family.

Nobody says giving morphine to the sick will cause kids to use heroin, but
that's the argument used against marijuana. If Ashcroft had his way,
Nofziger's daughter would have died in prison.

Carl Smith, Ozark