Paul O’Day of Spofford writes to the Concord Monitor, calling out the head of the NH police chiefs, Richard Enfield for his lack of compassion:
Re “Law enforcement resisting pot bill” (Sunday Monitor front page, April 29):
Enfield Police Chief Richard Crate was quoted as saying the pending medical marijuana bill is “looking for a potential solution when there’s not a problem out there.”
Many people endure needless pain and suffering because of the prohibition of this medicine.
Others risk losing their money, their liberty, their houses and their kids if they break the law to stop their pain.
Some people with cancer or other serious ailments succumb unnecessarily to the symptoms of their illness or its treatment such as chemotherapy, dying months or even decades sooner than they would have had they been able to use medical marijuana.
Untold numbers unnecessarily suffer from the worst diseases and ailments known to mankind. Others unnecessarily risk everything to escape their suffering. And some people are unnecessarily sent to an early grave – and there is no problem out there?
I do not know whether Crate is blinded by the conflict of interest as his salary and benefits derive in part from this prohibition, or whether it is the lust for power that corrupts him, or whether it is just old-fashioned ignorance of the overwhelming scientific and medical evidence that proves marijuana is the safest and most broadly effective medicine ever discovered.
But I do know he is without any factual, moral, legal, constitutional or practical basis for imposing criminal sanctions on the sick and dying. Anyone so incompetent is not fit to hold any office or to determine the law.
PAUL O’DAY
Spofford
