MARIJUANA: Statistics don’t tell whole story

People arguing for the legalization of marijuana like to present statistics in order to show the harmlessness of marijuana use. I understand that tactic as it can be quite compelling. But I also know that statistics only portray a small part of the story.

Take, for example, a recent trip my wife and I took to Sacramento to visit family. When we got into our rental car, it had a slight smell of marijuana in it. That smell would become about 10 times stronger after the vehicle was left closed and locked in the hot California summer sun. The next morning, we awoke in our hotel room to the smell of burning marijuana coming through the vent from an adjacent room (all hotels in California are “non-smoking” facilities). Then, to make our trip complete, a couple were smoking marijuana at our grandson’s T-ball game! All of these offenders were breaking the law, in that it is illegal to smoke marijuana in a rental car, a hotel room and in a public place. Marijuana smokers don't care.

Once marijuana is made legal in Idaho, the Idaho you know and love will be lost in the inescapable haze of noxious weed smoke …

JOSHUA COHEN

Hayden