Love-Hate Mail
Pot shot
Your story on a young girl’s problems with “zero tolerance” (“Less Than Zero,” Feb. 1) brings to mind the old saw about marijuana being a drug that causes panic attacks and irrational behavior in people who hear about other people using it. There certainly is a kind of national schizophrenia on the subject. While millions of perfectly functional Americans use marijuana regularly, as people all over the world have done for thousands of years, our government claims that marijuana is a dangerous plant that needs to be wiped from the face of the earth.
Meanwhile, evidence of its beneficial effects keeps mounting. From AIDS to Alzheimer’s, from strokes to stress, scientists keep finding ways in which marijuana could benefit us—as long as it is transformed from a plant anyone can grow into an expensive pharmaceutical that won’t get people “high.” The government’s irrational fear of people “getting high” has thoughtlessly victimized Candace McIntyre. She should be glad she didn’t get in the way of a police SWAT team storming the wrong house, as frequently happens. She might not have lived to tell the tale.
Our long-standing policies of repression and persecution have wrecked more lives than the substances they have failed to control. It’s way past time for a new tack. Zero tolerance has failed, and should be tolerated no longer.
MARTIN HOLSINGERmartinholsinger@nashville.net (Nashville)
Clementia sets in
I was shocked by Liz Garrigan’s commentary blasting Bob Clement (Garrigan, Jan. 25). I should have stopped reading the Scene when it refused to endorse Harold Ford Jr. Now the paper is attacking the reputation of Bob Clement, a good man who has done so much for Nashville, including his instrumental role in creating the city’s greenways. The Scene should point out that Garrigan’s husband is now deputy mayor, and that Karl Dean is Bill Purcell’s candidate. Bob Clement has brought honor and integrity to everything he has done, and he will do the same as mayor of Nashville.
SARA MARTINsara.e.martin@vanderbilt.edu (Nashville)
Chick power
I was so happy to see that the Dixie Chicks made your list of music critics’ picks (“The Seventh Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll,” Jan. 25). Their latest CD really is terrific, and I truly admire them for standing tall in spite of all they have been through.
SUSAN MORRISsumo707@yahoo.com (Kingston Springs)
Speech therapy
I wonder to what country Gail Carpenter refers when she states, “In fact, [The Dixie Chicks] don’t belong as part of this country” (Love/Hate Mail, Feb. 1). Surely she is not referring to the United States of America, a country that has codified the right of free speech in its Constitution. In our country, we are free to criticize our leaders, whether they be Rhodes scholars or lame-brained frat boys.
DAVID PATTERSONcptanalog@fastermac.net (Nashville)
Happy band
We just wanted to say thanks to writer Steve Haruch and the Nashville Scene for the extremely encouraging write-up we received in the current edition (Critics’ Picks, Feb. 1). We’re extremely grateful that Steve took the time to check us out and write about us and that the Scene found us worthy of publishing. Thanks so much for your support. Take care.
CHRIS VICARI & MAPSmapsband@hotmail.com (Nashville)
