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Letters to the Editor: The Times’ ridiculous reefer madness over high-potency pot

A marijuana plant grows at a federally funding research facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2021.
A marijuana plant grows at a federally funding research facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 2021.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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To the editor: Your editorial decrying a state fair contest for marijuana with the highest concentration of THC promotes “reefer madness” hysteria and handwringing over cannabis and potency. We keep hearing that cannabis is so much more potent and, therefore, dangerous since the “just say no” days of the 1980s.

The editorial notes that no state fair entrants are being judged on alcoholic potency. This is a false equivalency. Alcohol-related deaths are estimated to be close to 100,000 annually in this country; the number of cannabis-related deaths is comparatively infinitesimal.

Finally, the piece ignores the very real truth that, for people who enjoy cannabis, one of marijuana’s most sought-after qualities is the high potency from carefully tended and cared-for plants. For those who want lower potency, that option is certainly available too.

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It’s time for you to calm the hysterics and to wake up to the reality that cannabis is not going to come for your children and neighborhoods.

Theron Tomicki, Goleta

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