Playing politics with sick Georgians
The House medical marijuana bill, HB 1, will provide immunity for possession of non-psychoactive, life-saving, cannabis oil for patients with nine diagnoses – cancer, ALS, epilepsy, MS, Crohn’s, mitochondrial disease, fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s, and sickle cell. It passed the House 158-2. Lt. Gov. Cagle and Sen. Renee Unterman are blocking this bill at every opportunity. Last year, they played games with our sick children by attaching unrelated legislation to our popular bill. This year, they are playing the same games again and have also introduced their own bill for just clinical trials for only seizure children 18 and under. But these trials can take place without a bill. They are extremely limited and take years to complete. And they don’t include any of the other diagnoses. Preventing access to medicine is cruel and sadistic behavior. Why do Lt. Gov. Cagle and Sen. Unterman have such disdain for their own citizens, especially those who are suffering? Please call their office and let them know how repulsive their actions are. Please pass HB 1.
BLAINE CLOUD, SMYRNA
City movement creates segregation
Creating cities within DeKalb county, as currently proposed, increases the economic status of persons who are already doing quite well on the average at the expense of persons who are not doing so well, besides increasing racial divergence. This is contrary to any ethical system with which I am familiar, except social Darwinism, and seems unpatriotic. If cities want to form for other reasons (such as more local control), they should make provisions for sharing their economic advantage with the rest of DeKalb and find ways to counteract segregation.
MARTIN BUSS, ATLANTA (DeKalb County)
Dash of hyphenated sense needed
I am tired of the nonsensical misuse of hyphenated Americans to identify American citizens. Please stop misusing nationality and ethnicity to identify and differentiate between races. I can understand that when a person comes from another country and becomes a naturalized American that person usually refers to himself/herself as a hyphenated American (e.g. Chinese-American, Irish-American, Mexican-American). I do not understand why any children of that naturalized American would need to say they are anything other than American.
BOB DRUKTANIS, SHARPSBURG
The amazing photograph of Marianne Swanson at Grady Ponce de Leon Center captures the essence of the story that was told so vividly by Jon Waterhouse in Sunday’s “Personal Journeys” (“Hidden Blessings,” Living & Arts). Marianne’s story causes readers to run the gauntlet of emotions from heartbreak to joy, from despair to hope. It’s gut-wrenching and inspiring at the same time. Marianne had a choice between bitter and better, an “i” or an “e” difference. Her remarkable story is about her choosing the “e.”
JERRY SCHWARTZ, ALPHARETTA
