cannabisnews.com: Readers Sound Off on Pot Issue Readers Sound Off on Pot Issue Posted by CN Staff on September 29, 2002 at 13:54:34 PT Letters to the Editor Source: Daily Southtown Do you care whether a candidate for office ever smoked marijuana? Under what circumstances do you think this is a legitimate question in a campaign? Would it affect your vote if you learned a candidate smoked marijuana years ago?I don't care if someone running for political office smoked marijuana.What does bug me, though, is the way they bring it out. Bill Clinton: "I never inhaled." I wouldn't buy a used car from this man. Rod Blagojevich: "I only tried it a couple of times, didn't like it." Maybe, but who really keeps track of these kinds of things? It was nice Rod came forward, but I think he had ulterior motives, like maybe someone threatened to bring out this fact, so being a good politician, a good offense is the best defense. Rod pre-empted the attack. Respected "nonrunner" Carl Sagan said he smoked marijuana on a regular basis, said it expanded the mind, but you see our politicians don't want anyone "expanding their minds" — they want us to watch and believe the tripe they put out on CNN and shrink our minds watching senseless sitcoms and professional sports. One thing I can say for sure, though, there were 734,497 arrests made in year 2000 for marijuana. Somebody is making money, and I am not talking about the dealers, but the other criminals. Brad Wargin Frankfort I really don't care if he smoked marijuana, but I do care that he didn't know who was fixing his house and didn't have union people. Helen Koscicki Oak LawnFace it, we are all guilty of our share of youthful indiscretions. A politician's mind is foggy enough so he shouldn't be doing drugs, especially while in office. Besides a candidate's current drug condition, abortion is a major decisive voting factor for me. Abortion is an atrocious crime against all humanity and extremely detrimental to women and children. I ask Mr. Blagojevich, is killing a baby right? Does the right of privacy supersede the right to murder another human being? Blagojevich is endorsed by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a major provider and promoter of abortion in this country. He will not get my vote. No way.Carolyn Bush BrookfieldA candidate's casual or one-time experimentation with pot while attending college should not be an issue, if they reject it. The present fitness ... of the candidate is the important consideration. Issues like the O'Hare expansion and the addition of an airport at Peotone need a candidate that can think clearly and independently. A regional airport authority should be formed for the benefit of the people in the area. Airports should not be run for the benefit of the city of Chicago or a south suburban political group. Richard Bush BrookfieldIt amazes me that the politicians who are strongly against tobacco and guns, which are legal to posses, are the very ones who have tried illegal marijuana. What's wrong with this picture? I think that someone should care.Arlene Marzano Oak LawnI would prefer that a candidate for office did not smoke marijuana, or have to admit it to the public. However, in this constantly changing world, acceptance seems to be gaining. If the person involved has shown no personal character degradation because of something in the past, there is less doubt on the part of the voter as to choosing the right candidate. It is a personal decision. Mildred Carmody ChicagoI would like a candidate for office to not only admit that they smoked pot, but I would like them to also admit that the war on drugs is a complete farce — that we are spending billions of dollars in a farcical manner. Meanwhile, we have children having classes in halls because we don't have enough classrooms. We are wasting money, punishing pot-smokers, burning pot fields, and we have children sitting in halls. Our priorities are askew. Laura Dahl DoltonI would not vote for a candidate that ... used marijuana. If for no other reason than it's against the law, always has been. So that to me shows a total disregard of the law. And, today's drug dealer does prison time for dealing with cannabis and so forth. Why should a candidate running for office in their hypocritical position be allowed to smoke marijuana, admit it to the public and get my vote? Never.S. Greenberg South HollandI've been following this marijuana question for the last 35 years. It's occurred to me that not only should marijuana be legal, but it should have never been made illegal in the first place. The United States government has been slandering marijuana for the better part of 66 years. The question about marijuana vs. tobacco and alcohol? President Nixon's commission back in 1972, a panel made up of conservative Republicans, found that marijuana was relatively harmless and not a detriment to society. And that panel recommended (to) decriminalize (it). Of course, Nixon ignored his own panel's recommendation, as did Congress, because this whole issue is fixed. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine affirmed scientific data indicating potential therapeutic value of cannabis drugs for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting and appetite stimulation.Edward Alan Hall ChicagoWhen you have a president that was a cokehead, I don't really care if the whole world smokes marijuana.Steve DeAngelis Oak LawnNo, I don't care if a candidate ever smoked marijuana. In fact, I think it helps them, and that more politicians should smoke marijuana. Do I think it's a legitimate question to ask? No, because alcohol and marijuana go together just like baseball and hot-dogs. It's part of life. Just like the saying goes, "Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll forever.' And I strongly recommend that someone should send Mike Madigan marijuana. It might help him realize that Lisa is not the right candidate for attorney general. And, I'm still voting for the smoking hotrod.Chris Gostkiewicz Homer GlenNo, I do not care if he has. I do not think that they should smoke while in office, but if they have, I think that just makes them that much more human because we as humans are capable of making mistakes and doing things like that. I don't think that it's a legitimate question in the campaign because what they do in their private time is not anybody else's business. And, we should keep it to not mudslinging with other politicians. We need some politicians that are real, that are people just like everybody else instead of inbred politicians.Amanda Foley HomewoodThis is in response to the article about Rod Blagojevich smoking marijuana in college. The press and voters are focusing on the wrong points for candidate Rod Blagojevich. We should be focusing on the more important issues that will affect our state in the future. We should be concerned about ideas and ways that he will make our state a better place. Focusing on the mistakes he made while going through college seems petty when there are so many important current issues the candidates are facing. ... The press should not be focusing on the past, but rather on the future because that is what our candidates will be representing, the future of Illinois. Instead of digging up dirt about the mistakes they made in the past, we should be asking insightful questions about what they will do to help our state and the people that live in it.Annie Ruffner Orland ParkBlagojevich's marijuana smoking is about a couple of puffs from what I understand. To me, the degree of that incident is similar to a common little lie a person would tell another. Everybody in life has told a lie. Since having told a lie isn't at all a concern, then neither should be a little marijuana smoking. Unless, of course, the candidate is not at all far from days of having been a heavy alcohol or drug abuser. At least Blagojevich was honest. I'm still waiting for some other candidates and current legislative officials to eventually tell the truth on certain things. Albert Lopez ChicagoI feel that once it's established that a candidate has smoked grass, driven a motor vehicle while intoxicated, written on a bathroom wall, played mailbox baseball or shoplifted as a simple indiscretion of youthful curiosity and/or poor judgment, that line of questioning and focus should not be revisited. There are many, many questions that are far more important. I would rather read about how candidates stand on issues locally and nationally. I would rather read a comparison of the candidates' past voting records verses how they said they stood on those same issues before the vote.... As a voter, I would rather know if a candidate has used or abused drugs as an adult and for how long, for a week, for a month or for years. This information can show the candidate's likelihood of having an addictive personality, an instability that could create a possibly volatile and dangerous situation in the future as evidenced by the present occupant of the White House. Art Brauer Palos Park What is disturbing about politicians such as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich admitting to having smoked marijuana earlier in life is how, instead of using it to warn young people on its dangers and what it can lead to, they phrase their admission to score points across the political spectrum. Liberals such as Blagojevich hope to impress the right with their candor and the left by seeming to be a real cool dude. Blagojevich, instead of merely admitting using marijuana and hoping we move on, should be using the bully pulpit his campaign affords him to shout from the rooftops warnings on using marijuana or any drug under any circumstances. ... Marijuana use is not okay, and it is dangerous. Marijuana is a gateway to drugs like heroin and cocaine. ... Marijuana use is highly correlated with future hard drug use, crime, and serious heath risks. It is not merely a youthful indiscretion.Daniel John Sobieski ChicagoSource: Daily Southtown (IL)Published: Saturday, September 28, 2002Copyright: 2002 Daily SouthtownContact: dstedit interaccess.comWebsite: http://www.dailysouthtown.com/CannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on September 29, 2002 at 19:28:52 PT Me! Pick me!! Sirs, The problem with Rod Blagojevich's admission of prior marijuana use is not that he did it once or twice, but that he continues to support criminal sanctions for people just like him who have the misfortune to be caught. He supports the current black market system, which funds domestic criminals and potentially international terrorists. Why do people buy marijuana from criminals? Because the government doesn't allow them any other option. You'd think politicians in Chicago, of all places, would be well aware of the folly of prohibition. Blagojevich is lucky we passed the 21st Amendment; otherwise, he may have been forced to utter something like, "I drank beer, but I never swallowed." [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by The GCW on September 29, 2002 at 17:21:09 PT My preference Would be that politicians would stop caging humans for using a plant.It would also be nice to have them stop sending in SWATSTIKA, to kill people suspected of having cannabis.FATAL DRUG RAID SHOOTING TO BE INVESTIGATED http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1837/a02.html?397 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by pokesmotter on September 29, 2002 at 17:11:43 PT good article i liked this one, with the letters to the editor. It shows feelings of a large group of people. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment