Reader Says Don't Ban Pot, Ban the Really Dangerous Stuff

Editor,

How could you be so irresponsible as to publish, without comment, that inflammatory letter about medical marijuana dispensaries last week? Frieda Bellows is blindly discriminating against people like me, who have serious illnesses that are not contagious, and who find some relief in a drug that is prescribed to us for those conditions. She wants to make our lives even more difficult, not to mention unpleasant, by forcing us to drive to some other city to fill our prescriptions.

It would be a far better use of Ms. Bellows' time to blindly discriminate against another group of people: those who drink alcohol. Now there's a drug with no medical benefits. And yet, our City Council allows it to be sold in sordid wine bars, and in restaurants don't even really serve Italian food, as far as I can tell.

Some of these alcohol outlets are practically right across the street from a school! What are we teaching our children? Do we want them to think it's normal to drink a glass of wine with dinner? Do we want them driving drunk, dying of liver disease, and cutting off their own ears before gaining fame for their impressionist oil paintings? I say no!

The responsible thing would be for Alameda to close down all establishments that suppy alcohol, whether they are close to schools or not. The scourge of Chardonnay, and even harder stuff like Reisling and even Shiraz, has afllicted our community for long enough! Pot clubs are no problem, though. So, don't ban pot. Ban the really dangerous stuff.

Luella Pitt

Editor's Comments:

The Alameda Daily Noose and I are shocked—shocked!—that anyone would criticize our well-known policy of publishing every letter we receive, with the sole exception of those we do not. Furthermore, just because we do not prick a the author of a particular letter with our rapier wit in one of our signature editor's comments does not mean that we were not thinking of dozens of insightful and damning criticisms as we published the item.