MARIJUANA AND COKER

Re: Matt Coker's observation of the fifth anniversary of the passage of
Proposition 215, the medical-marijuana law (A Clockwork Orange, Nov. 16).
Also note that Nov. 5 was the one-month celebration of the enactment of Dion
Aroner's Assembly Bill 487, which requires that all practicing physicians
complete a 12-hour seminar in pain management. The course material would
undermine the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's reign of terror, its
opiophobic philosophy on the prescription of pain killers, especially
opiates.

The crackdown Coker refers to is part of a two-pronged reply by the DEA to
the threat of Aroner's brazen attempt to disseminate the truth. The other
prong was the DEA's abortive attempt to subvert Oregon's Death With Dignity
law.

An epic battle has been joined on a broad front, and I trust you will
continue covering the action on the front lines.

Name withheld by request, Santa Ana