Pot potential
Re “The cancer drug,” Opinion, Dec. 22
What a sad commentary that it took Diana Wagman’s chemotherapy to discover that many of her “old, dear, married, parenting, job-holding friends” smoked pot.
I have been less surprised by the many I know who secretly smoke pot. They hide their smoking from their children, neighbors and co-workers, smoking after kids are asleep, or in garages and on patios, or during nightly dog walks. But what else can one expect after decades of relentless government misinformation campaigns, coupled with the constant threat to otherwise upstanding citizens of being criminalized. Add to these policies the media’s collusion in representing pot smokers as slothful Cheech and Chongers, and what other choice is there but secrecy for those who fear disapproval by their children, prosecution and loss of jobs or status?
Don’t we already have enough problems to solve in the 21st century? Isn’t it about time we use honest information and practical legislation to deal with marijuana issues?
James Goodwin
Mount Washington
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Wagman mentions that her friends were able to supply her with the medicine she needed. Doesn’t this indicate that there is a huge market for marijuana in the 50-and-older crowd?
The governor is talking about closing down various government services because of money problems. Have I got a solution for him. The Depression led to cash-strapped local governments, but they were helped by the repeal of Prohibition. The public was so happy to have legal beer that it didn’t mind paying taxes because the alternative was far worse.
So, all we have to do is end the prohibition on marijuana at the federal level, then legalize pot in California for adults and put a tax on it. The overall price would come down, and the dangers of contamination would be lowered. The black market would be turned into a legal business, and even with high taxes, marijuana users would pay taxes instead of giving money to dangerous gangs.
How’s that for a win-win?
Eric Taylor
Sunland
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You don’t have to smoke marijuana to obtain the benefits; you can ingest it in cookies, brownies, candy or peanut butter. My 94-year-old mother, who suffered from severe arthritis pain, was given a prescription for medical marijuana. She defied the feds and ate her brownies.
For those poor souls suffering from AIDS, cancer or chronic pain, medicinal marijuana is the answer. And if those guys in Washington -- that includes members of the Supreme Court, the Drug Enforcement Administration and President Bush -- suffered from the constant pain my mother endured for years, they would be ingesting or smoking marijuana, legal or not. When you’re in constant pain, you’ll do anything short of selling your soul to the devil to get relief.
Joan Kerr
Torrance
