I object to author John Dougherty’s assessment
that “Marijuana isn’t the only drug being
smuggled” across the Tohono O’odham Nation’s
border with Mexico. Marijuana is not a drug. It is a plant that is
smoked without any processing necessary, unlike the commercial
tobacco that kills millions every year.
There has never
been any legitimate proof that marijuana is more dangerous than
legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol. It wouldn’t
need to be smuggled across borders by crime syndicates if it were
made legal. The only reason it is associated with crime is because
it has been artificially deemed a criminal substance, on a par with
highly processed and dangerous drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
Evan Cantor
Boulder,
Colorado
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Reefer madness is a lie.
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