Letters

Is America Going to Pot?

The question is not whether marijuana is good for you but whether it is so bad that people should be put in jail for personal use [Society, Nov. 4]. The answer, based on your story and research on both sides of the issue, is clearly no. Legalize it and regulate it.
ROY HOBBES
Rio de Janeiro

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TIME's coverage of the medical marijuana controversy was thoughtful and scrupulously researched. But what argues most persuasively for a ban on marijuana is the extraordinary threat the drug poses for adolescents. Marijuana impairs short-term memory, depletes energy and impedes acquisition of psychosocial skills. Perhaps the most chilling effect is that it retards maturation for young people. A significant number of kids who use lots of pot simply don't grow up. So it is hardly surprising that marijuana is the primary drug for more than half the youngsters in the long-term residential substance-abuse programs that Phoenix House operates throughout the country.
MITCHELL S. ROSENTHAL, M.D.
PRESIDENT, PHOENIX HOUSE
New York City

Of all the risks involved with pot smoking, the biggest one is getting arrested and thrown in prison with violent criminals. Last year more than 734,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana violations more than for murder, rape, armed robbery and assault combined! Our court system and prisons should be reserved for people who harm others not just potentially themselves.
KIRK MUSE
Mesa, Ariz.

Used in moderation, neither marijuana nor alcohol will ruin your life. But if you're caught with pot, the legal system will see to it that your life becomes a shambles. Sanctioning alcohol use while persecuting pot smokers is the height of hypocrisy. Thank you for providing the facts so Americans can make up their minds intelligently.
STU ALDERMAN
Reno, Nev.

Successful, hardworking people smoke marijuana. To paint them as dumb and on the way to using other drugs is no different from characterizing those who drink alcohol as reckless drivers and child abusers.
KIRK BATTLE
Conway, S.C.

I fail to see how legalizing a drug that impairs one's ability to concentrate and retain information can be viewed as good public policy. I have worked in drug-treatment centers for more than 20 years, and I continue to see clients who identify marijuana as their gateway drug to alcohol, cocaine and heroin.
PHYLLIS SELLNER
Indianapolis, Ind.

The claim that marijuana is a gateway drug is true for one reason: to buy pot, one must rely on an illegal-drug dealer. This dealer probably has connections to other illegal substances like cocaine and heroin. Legalize pot, and the connections will be severed. The government is wasting too much money fighting a drug that at best has medicinal value and at worst is not all that dangerous. The war on drugs would gain credibility if pot weren't enemy No. 1.
BENJAMIN L. MOAN
Flagstaff, Ariz.

Thanks in large part to big money, Americans at least had a chance to vote on marijuana laws. For this, pro-pot activists George Soros, John Sperling and Peter Lewis should be applauded. But the opportunity to vote on legalizing pot is a painful reminder that the democratic process is intricately connected to the almighty dollar. As for drug czar John Walters and the rest of the Federal Government, they would be wise to listen to the people and stop stepping on the states. That would be democracy!
MATTHEW ALBRIGHT
Toronto

--Drug czar Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, is just as unpopular with some of our readers as the laws against pot are. "Having a culture warrior like Walters dictate marijuana policy is like putting an Islamic fundamentalist in charge of alcohol," wrote a Virginian. A New York reader asked, "Where does Walters get off saying the billionaire philanthropists who bankroll the movement to legalize marijuana should debate him? They don't owe him an explanation any more than someone who backs the Red Cross does." And a man in Utah went further: "For Walters to cry foul at the marijuana lobby's use of the tactics long employed by Republican robber barons is just a hoot!"

Biblical Brother

The reference to James as the brother of Jesus in an inscription on a 1st century A.D. burial box [Religion, Nov. 4] may cause consternation among Catholic theologians. Their religion teaches that Jesus' mother Mary was a perpetual virgin and therefore Jesus could not have had blood siblings. But this is no problem for the Greek Orthodox Church. According to its ancient tradition, Joseph was much older than Mary; he had been widowed and Jesus' siblings were the children of that earlier union. Thus James can be considered the brother of Jesus without compromising the doctrine of Mary's lifelong virginity.
WILLIAM J. SANDILOS
Dresher, Pa.

Comparing James' teaching about salvation by charitable works with the Apostle Paul's doctrine of salvation by faith alone could suggest that a schism existed between what James was teaching and what was taught by Paul. While, historically, these doctrines created some contention, most contemporary Christians find them in harmony. James accepted the doctrine of salvation by faith alone but insisted that the evidence of this saving faith was seen in the outward works or fruits of the saved. Paul taught only what was required for salvation, and James spoke to the outward signs of that inward conversion. Paul and James and most of the Protestant Church are in 100% agreement about the doctrine of salvation by faith alone.
DAVID MISER
Fairfield, Calif.