COMPARING WHISKEY AND MARIJUANA

THE EDITOR'S practice of getting in the last word on letter-writers is
arrogant and unfair. Why not just let people make their own points, instead
of playing Big Brother Editor?

As for Alan Randell's "unworkable analogy" between Rice Krispies and
marijuana, how about this: Any adult can buy a fifth of fine Canadian
whiskey. To drink the entire contents (or even half in some cases) would
cause a potentially fatal overdose. It happens to thousands of people every
year.

There is no practical fatal dose of marijuana, nor is it associated with
millions of highway deaths and incidents of domestic violence. This does
not meet the most basic standards of equal protection before the law.

When you consider that millions of people regard cannabis (sacred to Hindus
and Rastafarians as "ganja"), central to their spirituality, and millions
more depend on cannabis for their very survival, analogies to the Taliban
and Nazis become quite workable.

Please let my statement stand. Your readers are capable of understanding
opinion without Big Brother Editor's power-grabbing spin.

David T. Wilkinson

Plymouth, MA

(We'd say most of your arguments make sense, so why are you leaping to
defend one that is an incredible stretch? We'd think you'd have the most to
lose from tolerating fatuous logic)