FREEDOM'S ALL ABOUT THE RIGHT TO BE STUPID

I've lived in the Staunton/Augusta County area for some 40 years, and I
wouldn't think of leaving this beautiful place, but I have read some recent
articles and seen some recent letters that have me really upset.

How can an Augusta County man have to face 50 years for so simple a thing
as a draw off a smoking apparatus? Regardless of whether he is guilty or
innocent, he's still a person in this community who has a wife and
children, someone who has worked to give his children the best life he could.

The Bible says, "Judge not, lest you be judged." Some of us could really
use that passage from our Heavenly Father right now!

A few years ago, when our president, Mr. Bill Clinton, told us on national
television he puffed off a marijuana joint but never inhaled, I didn't see
him being imprisoned awaiting sentencing. Was this because he was our
president and not just a common person that this demeaning injustice had no
bearing on him?

People are allowed to smoke cigarettes, drink, curse and do all types of
crimes but yet I still haven't seen anyone getting 10 to 50 years for a
little puff of smoke.

I also have another fact at hand. During the Vietnam War, many of our
soldiers came home addicted to morphine, but no one is imprisoning them,
because it's not their fault they had to serve our country over there. But
morphine is a far worse drug than marijuana. In different articles, I have
read that physicians have stated that marijuana is helpful to patients with
glaucoma and certain kinds of cancer.

I personally do not believe in smoking (anything), drinking or any kind of
self-destructive behavior, but as an American I will defend anyone's
constitutional right to be stupid. Many have fought for this since leaving
England or whatever homeland they may have had. That's what freedom is all
about.

I believe that Mr. Phillips has not been treated fairly, and that our
community should rise up in defiance of what appears to be a corrupt
judicial system, and in support of his displaced family. If you don't,
maybe your family will be next. Now, more than ever, we need to be "One
nation, under God."

SUE WERNER, Fishersville