Roberts' column filled with misinformation, fallacies

I am writing to respond to Kristen Roberts' March 27th opinion piece "Arizona must reconsider faulty drug initiative." I suggest that Ms. Roberts educate herself a little more on the topics that she chooses to write about, as a majority of her statements in this article are blatantly false.

Proposition 200 does not ease sentencing on "drug pushers" as Ms. Roberts states. It instead eases sentencing for marijuana possession. The annual cost of incarceration is about $17,000 per inmate. The cost of outpatient treatment is only $2,000 to $4,000 per year per person. The law was simply designed to save the state money, and ease the sentencing for a victimless crime. The proposition actually states that drug dealers will get harder sentences, and violent drug users must serve 100 percent of their sentence. Did Ms. Roberts actually read the proposition, or just the propaganda that its opponents put out?

The medical community has been gathering data on marijuana for more than 25 years. While it may be true that there are other "effective legal drugs [that] treat the effects of chemotherapy, spasticity from multiple sclerosis, and loss of appetite from AIDS," none of them treat all of these symptoms as well as glaucoma, morning sickness due to pregnancy, arthritis, migraine, chronic pain, leukemia and rheumatism. None of those drugs can be grown in your own home for very little money, but are rather highly expensive and produced by large pharmaceutical companies. The same companies whose studies showed that drugs like thalidomide were safe. Which would you rather trust?

There are many other blatant falsities in Ms. Roberts' article including her "economic" argument, the "fact" that marijuana is a deadly drug which is highly addictive, and even the argument that it inhibits sex hormone production. Unfortunately I am short on space here. For more information I suggest searching the Internet. The evidence here is just the beginning.

In this land of freedom we do not prohibit gun ownership, rock climbing, sky-diving, and even driving cars. It is hard to understand the reason for our draconian attitude towards marijuana. If people like Ms. Roberts took the time to examine the evidence, instead of just listening to the propaganda, they might just see that our "war on drugs" and "do drugs, do time" attitudes needs drastic change. Proposition 200 is a step in that direction.

By Nicholas Palmer (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 7, 1997