Will paper fawn over drug producers as it does distillers? | Letter to the Editor

Published 12:06 pm Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Voters in Washington state have the opportunity this November to make it legal for persons age 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and for state-licensed growers to produce marijuana for sale at state-licensed stores.

If I-502 is approved by the voters, I will be interested to read the articles in The Beachcomber in support of the people who will be locally producing drugs for consumption by their Island neighbors. I would expect to see articles like that in The Beachcomber given the article published recently celebrating the new distillery and the excitement that is surrounding the opportunity for local production of one of the most destructive, damaging and addictive drugs available. After reading so many articles and opinion pieces in The Beachcomber regarding substance abuse problems on the Island, I have to say I was a little surprised to see an article promoting drug use. Or was it an article promoting shopping locally, another Beachcomber favorite?

Either way I am curious to see if The Beachcomber will treat marijuana growers with the same amount of respect and admiration that they give to alcohol distillers.

— Jeremy DeKoker