FOCUS ON REAL CRIME AND LEAVE POT USERS ALONE

IT is clear that anti-drug types want no exceptions made for the use
of drugs in San Francisco, even marijuana. The benefits of using
marijuana are many. They include the relief of pain, nausea, glaucoma,
movement disorders and migraines, and it even stimulates appetite for
people suffering with HIV. The same can definitely not be said for
users of heroin or cocaine.

I understand concerns about marijuana being a gateway drug to heroin
or cocaine, but this is only a myth to keep kids away from drugs.
People who are recreational users or dependent on marijuana for
medical reasons do not progress to other drugs. There are millions of
people across the globe, from schoolteachers to lawyers, who partake
in marijuana and nothing more.

I think it is necessary for San Francisco police to crack down on the
use of heroin and cocaine in order to clean up the streets, but it
would be a tragedy if local police were slow in getting to a murder
scene or robbery because they were in the process of citing a user of
marijuana. Events such as the recent Potrero Hill homicide are major
catastrophes in San Francisco and full police attention needs to be
paid to larger problems such as this instead of marijuana.

Chris Kindig,
Dublin