Enormous ignorance surrounds cannabis

To The Eagle:

I read with interest James Roberts’ letter of July 28 regarding the legal sale of cannabis products in Wahkiakum County. With equal interest, I anticipated a reply on August 4 from Commissioner Dan Cothren.

Reading the Commissioner’s reply to Mr. Roberts, it became immediately apparent that he had not paid sufficient attention to Mr. Roberts’ letter to The Eagle. James Roberts did not say that the county received the 10 percent of revenue given to all counties that approved legal sales of these products. On the contrary he asked why, in “our cash-strapped county…” the county refused to allow sales of these cannabis products, something that would attract that 10 percent of revenue and boost the local economy.

For Commissioner Cothren to state the reason for refusal as the supposed protection of local youth is, in my experience, a rather naïve view of things: The young people of today are largely self-directed and will get what they want regardless of any well-meaning intention to “protect” them. In any case, legalization of anything is intended to establish and maintain control, not to reduce it. Age control of sales seems to work for alcohol and tobacco (both dangerous, life-threatening drugs; cannabis is not). Why, then, does Commissioner Cothren think that cannabis could not be legally controlled in the same way? Marijuana is out there in abundance and people of all ages do, and will find it if they want it. No amount of restriction will alter that; indeed to forbid anything is simply to make it more attractive to many, particularly the young.

There is an enormous, universal ignorance of exactly what cannabis is. Anyone wishing to know the whole truth, rather than the ignorance of political expediency, should read “The Pot Book”, edited by Julie Holland, M.D., and featuring scholarly articles and research reports by Ph.Ds, MDs, Medical Scientists and others.

Cannabis is not what most people think it is. It is much more than that: essentially it is an organically grown plant from which one ingests the flowers (buds). Doesn’t sound too obnoxious, does it? I encourage people to educate themselves on this matter (in particular the Wahkiakum commissioners), and then act to dispel this general ignorance, and to detach from ill-informed parochial bigotry.

Alexander Docker, Ph.D

Cathlamet