cannabisnews.com: More Opinions on Pot from Near and Far More Opinions on Pot from Near and Far Posted by CN Staff on October 18, 2002 at 15:17:51 PT Letters To The Editor Source: Pahrump Valley Times The desire to keep too large of a proportion of our population in jail or with a record is commendable. Wanting to keep drugs illegal and uncontrolled, available to the underage is questionable. Moving too slow doesn't seem prison worthy. I myself have similar disdain for drinkers unable to control their urges, but feel he should be able to live life as he wants in the privacy of his home without endangering others. As for more drug testing, Canada stopped all testing, calling it a human rights violation. We could all learn by their lead and stop all testing, unless there has been an accident. I've been involved in the entertainment industry too; booze not pot has been a problem.The "many, many friends" lost because of drugs has nothing to do with pot; no one has overdosed on cannabis. If he runs with hard drug users they need treatment not prison.Suz Fox, snowbirdKalispell, Mont. Recent letters about Question 9 make the mistake of lumping marijuana with all other illegal drugs.The initiative before Nevada voters does not endorse the free use of marijuana. It simply recognizes the reality that adults who responsibly use marijuana should not be a priority of law enforcement.The nation's and Nevada's criminal justice system - from the cop on the beat, to the courts, jails, prisons and probation and parole system - are far too overloaded to handle the continued prohibition of marijuana, a prohibition enacted 65 years ago with very little debate, and against the wishes of the AMA and ABA.Marijuana prohibition never was based on any scientific evidence, just reefer madness hysteria drummed up to demonize minorities.In these times, the war on terror and corporate crime along with serving and protecting the public should be priority one, and the war on marijuana should not even be on the radar screen. Current law makes it easier for kids to get pot than people who use it medically, or even adults who use it responsibly. Nevadans should pass Question 9 and send a strong message that it's time for some common sense.Gary Storck -- http://www.immly.org/ Madison, Wis. A couple of months ago the federal government sent its Energy Secretary, his mind already made up, to Nevada to decide in favor of Yucca Mountain. A week or so ago, the federal government sent us its Drug Czar, his mind already made up, to lecture us on the evils of legalizing three ounces of pot.Having had Yucca Mountain crammed up my butt by the federal government, I am fully prepared to vote to legalize three ounces of marijuana and politely tell the federal government where it can stick it! The feds tell us pot is a deadly killer, but high level radiation is just fine!Question 9 is clearly a states'-rights issue. Neither Big Brother, your priest/pastor, nor mommy will be in the voting booth with you in November. Vote your conscience, but vote!Sincerely,Johnny Walker One question notably absent the marijuana debate in Nevada is, which side garners the support of the black market pot purveyors? Do they favor the current policy where their massive profits go untaxed, their goods unregulated, and their market virtually unimpeded by any governmental authority, or would they support a system with tariffs, regulatory controls, and restrictions limiting their clientele to adults over 21 years of age?The current scheme appears to form a lucrative, symbiotic relationship between illegal drug marketers and the drug warriors who purport to pursue them. Both reaping hundreds of billions of dollars in profits and income, with taxpayers, pot users, and our Constitution and its Bill of Rights, clearly the victims of this cash bonanza. Shouldn't all Americans be asking, who does marijuana prohibition truly benefit and what does our tax dollar buy us?Mike Plylar -- http://www.plylar.org/Libertarian CandidateColorado House of Representatives, District 57 With only weeks to go, the Nevada ballot initiative to legalize marijuana is in a dead heat. Are some police officers breaking the law in their desperate scramble to try to defeat it? A few hostile police in Las Vegas may have. A few days ago, they removed three ounces of marijuana from an evidence locker and waved it around on national TV in an attempt to show that three ounces is too much for personal use.By doing this, the police may have broken the law, which states that they can only possess drugs in the context of performing official duties-not to use them in a political campaign.And they may have broken the law a second time by campaigning against the initiative while on the clock; taxpayer money cannot be used to pay their salaries while they are campaigning against the initiative. The MPP campaign must be fed up with cops who think they are above the law, and these rouge cops should be prosecuted.Michael LindOjai, Calif. The dual news stories recently of the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs first endorsing the proposed Nevada ballot initiative to amend current marijuana laws and then reversing their stance following NCOPS President Andy Anderson's resignation made for a sad commentary.In the past 30 years, stringent and harsh criminal sanctions against responsible adult marijuana use have done nothing to reduce use. Rather they have helped create the largest criminal black market in the nation outside of arms and weapons. This criminal market helps fund more dangerous and violent activities which endanger not only police, but the public they serve.Smart, street-wise police know full well the drag that enforcing marijuana prohibition laws have on their primary mission of protecting and serving the public. As the departing Anderson stated in his original endorsement of the initiative, " ... a single (marijuana) arrest would take anywhere from a couple of hours to about half my shift ... time that could have been better spent on the streets addressing violent crime."More questions need to be asked of the eight NCOPS board members who backpedaled, claiming "confusion" as to what Anderson was asking them during his telephone survey. Further, close scrutiny should be used against any and all law officers who campaign against the initiative on taxpayer time. Police should be using their job hours to enforce the law, not lobby for or against proposed changes.Respectfully submitted, Lee EisensteinLionel Standish RecordsKailua, Hawaii Source: Pahrump Valley Times (NV)Published: October 18, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Pahrump Valley TimesContact: pvtimeswebinfo aol.comWebsite: http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Pondering The Ballot Questions http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14491.shtmlAttorney General Opposes Question on Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14489.shtmlProposed Marijuana Tax Prompts Debatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14485.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #1 posted by mayan on October 18, 2002 at 18:16:21 PT LTE's... Great letter Gary! They were all pretty good actually. I can't help but wonder just how much impact LTE's have had in our struggle for freedom & justice. I imagine the impact has been very signifigant though. LTE's are sometimes the only way to reach those who aren't aware of the grave injustices of the drug war. IMHO, without C-News,MAP & other similar sites, our progress would be very minimal. Thank you FoM & everyone connected to these wonderful sites!!! And thanks also to those who write these enlightening LTE's! Keep on writin' em'! Our persistence will surely pay. unrelated -The Hijackers Trail Leads to San Antonio:A Strange Trail of False Identities and Links to a USAF Base - http://www.the-movement.com/Hijackers/Agents.htmPhilip Adams, 9/11, the Memory Hole and Bali: http://globalist.org/media_campaigns/abc/lnl/index.htmlThe People's Investigation of 9/11: http://www.911pi.com/Paul Thompson's Complete 9/11 Timeline: http://cooperativeresearch.org/completetimeline/STOP THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ BEFORE IT STARTS! SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 - NATIONAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC: http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o26/o26endorse.html [ Post Comment ] Post Comment