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To the Editor: Reggie was wrong about marijuana

December 1, 2010

Editor’s note: The following letter is in response to Reggie Roberson’s Nov. 3-9 “Ramblings from Reggie” column “Weed and seed?”

Rambling Reggie was remarkably wrong about legalizing marijuana. Many countries where legalization was adopted were surprised to learn that crime and drug abuse dropped significantly. When alcohol was illegal, we had gangsters. Drugs are illegal, and we have gangsters. It’s real simple. Humans have been ingesting and smoking natural drugs since they walked out of the caves. Only in the last 40 years did certain people decide that some drugs are bad and some are good.

Many more people die from tobacco than heroin. It’s a fact. Many more die from alcohol than pot. I don’t hear Reggie saying we should have a war on them. Does it make more sense to fill up the jails and prisons with people who only want to get rid of their pain for a while? The government can tax weed just like they do everything else. You don’t see some guy on the corner selling homemade beer, do you?

I agree nobody should ever do drugs on the job. They need a test that shows if you’re clean on that day during work—not what you did three months ago. The war on drugs is as unwinnable as the war in Afghanistan or Vietnam. Humans have always done drugs and always will. Do you think the drugs your doctor gives you (with side effects enough to kill a goat) are better than natural marijuana? They are not. Many pot smokers are hard-working, taxpaying, honest Americans who show up for work every day.  They are only asking to be legal and not looked upon as criminals. We don’t need more drug testing, Reggie, we need common sense testing.

Kevin Schiller


From the Dec. 1-7, 2010 issue

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