
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990                   TAG: 9007310340
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LAWS AGAINST POT ARE OLD AND UNJUST

POT RAIDS double, twice as much pot is seized as last year. So this is what our government is wasting time on.

Marijuana has been shown to be safer than thousands of drugs prescribed by doctors every day. It certainly is a much safer recreational drug than alcohol.

Laws against pot have undoubtedly caused thousands of deaths, because teen-agers and adults choose the more readily available and legal booze. Thus they join some 23,000 traffic-related alcohol victims. While the sellers of booze get rewarded with paychecks, the sellers of pot get prison.

The laws against pot are old and unjust, and do nothing to save lives. There is not one case of a marijuana overdose in history, while alcohol kills rampanty. Those laws must be changed, but first there must be a rebellion of youth again in this country as there was to end the Vietnam War, and as strong as the rebellion by blacks to gain equal treatment.

CHARLES GOWEN\ ROANOKE

by CNB