DOPE SMOKING

To the editor:

I see the feds have come to our state trying to tell adult Nevadans we don't
have the right to choose a safer recreational drug than tobacco or alcohol.

John P. Walters, the head of the federal Office of Drug Control Policy, also
seems so concerned about our tourism. Under the initiative, it will be
illegal to bring marijuana across the Nevada border (to or from Nevada). The
initiative also states marijuana cannot be used in public. So we have a few
stoned tourists hiding in their hotel rooms buying Nevada-grown pot. Oh, I'm
so scared. They will still be contributing to our economy.

Mr. Walters also said decriminalizing marijuana in Nevada would encourage
drug use, increase the number of people dependent on other drugs, "and feed
the criminal organizations that are a dangerous threat to democratic
institutions in the Western Hemisphere."

Unless the government of Nevada is a criminal organization, there will be no
danger to our democratic republic or the Western Hemisphere. In numerous
studies marijuana has been shown not to be a gateway drug. One of
marijuana's therapeutic effects is to help wean addicts from other drugs.

Mr. Walters said governments should increase awareness of the ill effects of
marijuana possession and use. As of right now the most dangerous effect of
marijuana possession and use is jail. With more and more studies coming out
about marijuana use, we are seeing the government propaganda is just lies.
Here are some of the federal government's own statistics:

Deaths per year: Tobacco -- 340,000 to 425,000; alcohol (not including 50
percent of all highway deaths and 65 percent of all murders) -- 150,000;
marijuana -- 0.

JEFF OAKES

HENDERSON