Marijuana, Alcohol, Tobacco Laws

* Robert Scheer is informed by Health and Human Services that no deaths can be directly attributed to marijuana use in 1994 (Column Left, Sept. 24). Ho! That’s good for a wink and a chuckle.

Perhaps Scheer should review the front-page articles of this newspaper the past few weeks. Mexican officials gunned down by Mafias involved in the marijuana trade (Sept. 23). Maybe Scheer should ponder the fate of a college student kidnapped near the Texas-Mexican border in 1989. That young man, and several others, captured and murdered by a cult which believed human sacrifice protected its marijuana smuggling operation. Enough has been said of the carnage drug sales inflict upon this city.

Thank you, Mr. Scheer, for reminding us that pot is illegal. But you do us no favor by suggesting marijuana use costs no lives. Think it over the next time you see those brownies passed around.

PAUL NIELSEN

Los Angeles

* Congratulations to Scheer. This is the first newspaper article I’ve seen that cites objective evidence regarding our legal and illegal substance problems. The article brings into question U.S. government policies toward tobacco and alcohol, which appear extremely friendly in relation to the terrible damage (about 500,000 deaths per year per the cited U.S. government data) they cause to Americans. I only wish politicians would be asked to justify their stance toward alcohol and tobacco in light of this sort of objective data.

If we really want an effective program to protect our youth from dangerous substances, we need an honest policy--not the current one that says “just say no” to dangerous illegal drugs and “just wait until age 21” for dangerous but currently legal substances like alcohol and tobacco.

BILL HAWK

Covina