A double hooray for Steve Smith and...

A double hooray for Steve Smith and his courageous article

(“Marijuana is not a hard pill to swallow,” Wednesday) on the

hypocrisy of the cigarette-smoking, alcohol-swigging,

prescription-pill-popping, uninformed majority who continue to deny

the legitimate use of a proven method of alleviating the suffering of

untold thousands in need of a legal method of helping with their

pain.

For those who claim that marijuana smoking is just as harmful as

cigarettes, consider that with today’s hybrid plants, a few puffs is

all that is usually needed. Compare that with smokers who smoke one

or two packs a day and are slowly killing themselves with such a

noxious, deadly habit.

As for alcohol, who among us fails to recognize the devastating

and costly effect this addiction has had on society, not to mention

the untold suffering of millions of broken families.

And for those of us who have become addicted to prescription pain

killers, which would be worse -- an occasional puff of marijuana or

the lifelong trauma of addiction?

Let’s wake up and see this issue for what it really is -- an

ignorant, outdated prejudice that dates back to that most outrageous

of government-sponsored propaganda films, “Reefer Madness.”

Let’s give these thousands of poor sufferers a break and recognize

the established medical benefits of marijuana and rid ourselves of

this harmful outdated prejudice.

DONALD RAMSAY

Newport Beach

I’m wondering if Steve Smith has partaken too much marijuana

himself to have the opinion he does. There is an excess of drugs

already available out there, and we sure don’t need any more,

especially one that is so easily misused as marijuana.

MIKE CLIFFORD

Costa Mesa

Thank you Steve Smith for your clearly reasoned and compassionate

stance on the issue of medical marijuana.

Anyone who has seen the therapeutic effects of the drug on

lessening pain of AIDS patients will surely support the effort to

make it available locally to those who need it.

As one who has worked with a wide variety of substance abusers

over the last 30 years, I can attest to the fact that far more lives

have been ruined directly and indirectly because of alcohol abuse

than by the use of marijuana.

STEVEN HENDLIN

Newport Beach