Marijuana prohibition is deadly
Letters to the Editor April 23, 2012 6:14PM
Updated: May 25, 2012 8:09AM
Regarding Steve Huntley’s April 20 column in support of legalizing marijuana, there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and full legalization. Switzerland’s clinical heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. The success of the Swiss program has inspired pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.
Marijuana should be taxed and sold like alcohol, only without the advertising. As long as organized crime controls distribution, marijuana consumers will come into contact with hard drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.
This “gateway” is a direct result of marijuana prohibition. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly.
Robert Sharpe,
Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Arlington, Va.
Gov. Quinn vs. Gov. Walker
I am writing to demur from reporter Abdon Pallasch’s view in the April 23 paper that Gov. Quinn can compete with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the “better governor” contest. Illinois doesn’t pay its bills, and the bond markets consider it the least creditworthy of all 50 states. Gov. Walker brooked controversy by actually tackling Wisconsin’s financial problems.
As Pallasch’s article notes, Gov. Quinn has so far merely talked about fiscal reform. To judge Quinn superior, at this point, is like awarding “father of the year” honors to a man who doesn’t pay his child support. Let Quinn actually pay his bills and pay off the credit card — not just talk about it — before nominating him for prizes.
Richard Crane, Lincoln Park
Smoke at your own risk
Let’s actually do something meaningful and not allow smokers, who drive up the cost of Medicaid, access to state-funded insurance. If we want to talk about justice, let’s start with people being responsible for their own actions.
I am 100 percent supportive of your right to act in a way proven to harm you. I would never deny any person of that decision. However, I’m not supportive of your decision costing the rest of us our hard-earned income. Smoke away, but live with the consequences.
Taylor O’Malley,
Arlington Heights
