Submitted by Charles Knighton

The enigmatic intellectual acrobatics of Mr. Paul Kokoski (The right to life, Jan. 27 Advocate) always bemuse. If he is so positive in his belief that life is not only given by God but made in his image as well, what then are we to make of his visceral disgust, so evident in previous letters, for homosexuals, which scientific analysis has confirmed account for about 8 percent of all births? The right to life must include the right to live as one was created.

President Obama’s reelection seems to have deepened the beguilement which so entranced Barbadians when he was first elected, as evidenced by Sir Ronald Sanders in his glowing commentary, “President Obama: The man unveiled”, also appearing in the Jan. 27 Advocate. Prime Minister Stuart recently compared himself to Mr. Obama and I am sure many parents and teachers cite Mr. Obama as a model children should strive to emulate. And why not? Superb oratorical skills, Harvard Law graduate, senator at both state and federal levels, recipient of the Nobel Prize, two-term U.S. president who seems a decent and caring family man.

But for much of his teenage years Mr. Obama not only inhaled when he smoked marijuana, he was the leader of a group of heavy-duty stoners called ‘the Choom Gang”. Only Mr. Obama’s prominence separates him from the legions of successful individuals whose lives followed a similar path. It is long past time for a realistic reappraisal of government’s appetite for spending millions and incarcerating thousands in the service of pieties immune to rational analysis  as well as the enormous human and fiscal costs of attempting to eradicate the ineradicable. It is time to exit the era when a focus on the allegedly harmful effects of marijuana excludes all consideration of the harmful effects of its hard-fisted prohibition. Locking up those who enjoy a joint instead of a beer defies reason. Government’s continuing war on marijuana is classist in its enforcement, ridiculous as a matter of science and outrageous in terms of personal liberty.

While I do not condone the use of intoxicants among the young, organizations such as the NCSA need to temper their message on marijuana, which is essentially that smoking weed leads to an unfulfilled life of missed opportunities (review paragraph 2 above) and focus more on cocaine, crystal meth, heroin and alcohol. The bureaucrats and facilitators in these organizations need to understand that if individuals question their veracity in a single area, the entire message loses credibility.