LETTERS: Marijuana, like alcohol, will do harm

To the editor:

The Review-Journal’s editorial on marijuana is probably like so many written years ago, when alcohol was once again legalized (“Popularity of pot,” April 28). It’s all about the potential money that can be made and the great source of tax money it will provide. Aren’t editorials supposed to look at both sides of the coin? Or is it just about money?

President Barack Obama recently stated that in his opinion, marijuana is no worse than alcohol. Inasmuch as alcohol kills about 18,000 people a year via automobile accidents and has in fact killed more people than every recorded war in history, should we expect the same from marijuana? Let’s hope it’s not someone in the president’s family, or mine or yours.

I really couldn’t care less if people want to use marijuana, as long as it doesn’t result in harming innocent people who choose not to use the drug. But just as with alcohol, that’s not what’s going to happen. When you’re adding up all of the money that’s going to be made, why don’t you also subtract the estimated cost of the potential deaths and injuries? After all, what do 18,000 deaths a year cost? Or don’t you agree with President Obama that marijuana is no worse than alcohol?

JIM BESSO

HENDERSON

Jobs and drought

To the editor:

Democrats have been hugely successful with their proclamations of crisis upon crisis. It has allowed them to initiate numerous social programs. And even though much of the outcome has had diminishing returns, Democrats have effectively maintained control. The article on drought should sound an alarm to a party that claims to best represent the electorate (“Drought has California reconsidering desalination,” Monday Review-Journal).

The article showed how an over-representation of conflicting agencies is detrimental to progress. Desalination plants should be a common sight along the California, Oregon and Washington coastlines. This should be a federal project with the same emphasis spent on the interstate highway system. Encompassing water and sewer infrastructure, it would create thousands of middle-class jobs for many years.

We can ill afford to let drought conditions dictate our economic health. We cannot control drought, but we can produce water. Stop the social rhetoric. Provide something tangible that helps a person become a contributing citizen, and it will guarantee your longevity.

TOM HOOVER

LAS VEGAS

Bundy and the tortoise

To the editor:

Cliven Bundy’s situation has sure generated a lot of articles and letters. I have just one question: Would the desert tortoise still be endangered if Mr. Bundy had been paying his fees all along, or are the tortoises only endangered if he is letting his cattle roam around without paying the fees?

LYNN MCHATTON

LAS VEGAS

Reid’s vocabulary

To the editor:

Sen. Harry Reid is amazing. He calls Americans who protest the government and harm nobody “domestic terrorists.” But when our embassy was attacked and our ambassador murdered, he called those people “protesters.” Maybe Sen. Reid just needs a dictionary.

BRANDON TAYLOR

LAS VEGAS

Reid the opportunist

To the editor:

Let’s look at the Cliven Bundy case from a different angle. Suppose his last name was Martinez, and his family had been on that land since the 1880s. What would have been the reaction of the government, if any? No doubt, Sen. Harry Reid would have only said glowing things about him, defending him as an oppressed minority.

Sen. Reid, what an opportunist.

CHARLES W. MITCHELL

NORTH LAS VEGAS

Horse-drawn carriages

To the editor:

I can’t believe people are giving serious consideration to adding horse-drawn carriages downtown as a tourist/locals special activity (“Horse-drawn carriages might be in downtown Las Vegas’ future,” April 17 Review-Journal). Anyone giving this idea complete thought should come up with the same conclusion I did.

There are many reasons why this might be a bad idea. The first is that horses are living beings that eat and drink to stay healthy. They also defecate and relieve themselves anywhere, and often. If you think a street sweeper going along with them will clean up the mess, just think about the urine that will soon run out of reach and all that will be missed by the sweeper.

Slow-moving horses will also cause traffic congestion, and the horses can also be confused by the noise, traffic, pedestrians and very narrow streets that already exist.

Downtown already has many wonderful attractions and is adding more. If the horse-drawn carriages are added to that mix, there will be so many flies and horrible odors that we will lose tourists, and locals will go to the casinos away from downtown. Horse-drawn carriages might be a great activity somewhere else in the region, such as in the Red Rock area, where there is plenty of land and fresh air.

LOIS WHITE

NORTH LAS VEGAS