Dear Editor,
After Walter Patterson’s recent column titled “The high cost of using marijuana, I wish to offer a divergent opinion.
Like Mr. Patterson, I don’t use marijuana, nor do I intend to use it. Patterson related a story about Dr. Randel, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spinal cord injuries who informed him that one of his patients was paralyzed after having “some kind of reaction” to marijuana. I am confident that 99 percent of his patients with spinal cord injuries were the result of things that did not involve marijuana.
Furthermore, people everyday have “some kind of reaction” when they eat shellfish, eggs, drink milk or get stung by a bee, so how is that in any way significant information? Patterson attempts to cite a “study” that supports his hypothesis, yet studies can be – and are – skewed by the researchers formulating them to appease their own beliefs or the beliefs of those paying for the studies.
Patterson states that emergency rooms are seeing an increase in patients related to this drug since it has been legalized. Hasn’t the same been true when alcohol was legalized?
The problem, as I see it, has nothing to do with the product, but the fact that there will always be a part of society that can never obtain balance and equilibrium and tip the scale from “moderation” to “excess.” Many people are capable of having a cocktail, while others have to drink the whole bottle. Some people can have an after-dinner cigar, while others have to smoke three packs. Some people can go get fast food once a week, while others go once a day. Finally, some people can enjoy marijuana either recreationally or for well-documented medical purposes, while others have to do it morning, afternoon and night.
In any event, it is not your job, nor mine, and certainly not the government’s job to dictate to free men and women responsible for their own actions and behavior, what to eat, drink or smoke.
Respectfully,
Philip Delgrosso
