From: snowbell182@live.com   
      
   My father, a healthcare professional and longtime sufferer of severe   
   arthritis, used to say marijuana should be legalized for medicinal purposes;   
   while there is certainly a need for legal prescription painkillers, I   
   believe marijuana should be the last resort; But my stand in keeping   
   marijuana illegal is focused on those who have been clamoring for decades to   
   make it legal for personal recreational use, to be sold and available in a   
   manner not much different from tobacco. No, it shouldn't be.   
      
   My first stand against legalizing marijuana is I do not wish to "get high"   
   from someone else's pot smoke-- if you smoke around others, they will get a   
   contact buzz, whether they want to or not. That's not okay; it is not okay   
   at all. My second main issue is I'd no more appreciate being killed or   
   maimed by someone driving under the influence of pot than by a drunken   
   driver-- and while regulating alcohol limits is difficult enough, trying to   
   do the same with marijuana would be virtually impossible, for everyone   
   reacts to it differently, to a different degree, as well as the potency of   
   the drug itself varying. No, I don't want to get "stoned" from someone's   
   "personal choice," nor do I want to end up as a casualty from a vehicle   
   driven by someone under-the-influence.   
      
   Other factors cannot be overlooked either. First, for the past couple of   
   decades it's been reported that nearly everyone who becomes involved with   
   so-called hard drugs began their experimentation with marijuana. In addition   
   to the addictive nature, I suppose those who believe it is okay to break the   
   law, abuse their bodies, and put others in danger from the effects of pot   
   don't really see much difference between marijuana and substances like meth   
   and heroin. From an entirely different perspective, I don't see much   
   difference either.   
      
   Second, although it has not yet been infallibly proven, enough research   
   studies have concluded that marijuana use in youth causes some degree of   
   chromosome damage which even years on down the line significantly increase   
   their offspring's chances of developing childhood leukemia. Although not   
   conclusive, the risk is too much.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)