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Article understates dangers posed by marijuana
Editor: Your April 20 cannabis article dangerously misstated the impacts of cannabis use, saying the predicted increase of marijuana use among children and increased stoned driving and traffic collisions haven’t happened (“Why the illegal pot market still rules in the state”). You are flat wrong. On March 14, the Wall Street Journal reported, “Teenagers Have Easy Access to Cannabis. Science Says It’s Bad for Them.” It noted teens’ acknowledging the ease of getting marijuana from older siblings, friends and acquaintances. It described the serious risks: “The teenage brain is especially vulnerable to cannabis because it is still developing. THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, can alter the development of systems in the brain involved in decision-making, emotion regulation and reward processing.” One expert concluded, “We can’t find a level of cannabis use in a teenager that we don’t see a negative effect.”
As to traffic, the National Traffic Safety Board reported a national 2022 study finding marijuana present in about a third of all motorists arrested for impaired driving. The NTSB reported that 25% of those killed or seriously injured in road accidents, and testing positive for drugs, were positive for marijuana, with alcohol at 23%. After cannabis became legal in California, car-crash deaths jumped by 14%.
Cannabis is dangerous — do your homework.
— Libby Hutton, Santa Rosa
Choose candidates who are willing to take the heat
Editor: In a recent debate featuring candidates in the 1st and 4th Congressional Districts, a yes or no question was asked about Gaza and genocide. Everyone responded except 4th District candidate Eric Jones. In a highly performative moment, he begged the audience to understand that although he had deeply held beliefs on the issue, he could not, no, would not, answer because “they” would come after him. Whether he was referencing the war-profiteering tech bros bankrolling his campaign or anonymous assassins probably depended on which way he felt about the issue.
Our democracy is in danger, and the last thing we need to do is send someone to Washington who is afraid to speak their mind. We have too much of that already with Republicans privately moaning over President Donald Trump’s recklessness yet not doing what is needed in the light of day.
We are all scared, and we need leaders who can take the heat and fight for us and our democracy. We need warriors and we have that in Rep. Mike Thompson. Battle tested, battled scarred yet willing to return to the front lines for us. Jones showed us his weakness. Thompson is the better choice in the Fourth District.
— Cheryl Diehm, Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa traffic changes will complicate evacuations
Editor: I am writing about the changes made to West College Avenue — taking away two lanes and making it one lane in each direction with a new 6-foot-wide bike lane, a center turn lane to lower speeds and hideous green buffers between the traffic and bike lanes. I understand this was done to prevent cars from speeding and reduce accidents. It was called the 2025 Pavement Preventative Maintenance Slurry Seal Program.
Perhaps this bright idea does not remember the time when residents had to evacuate because of fires. It took me 2½ hours to get to eight miles because of the gridlock. Can you imagine if there was an emergency and we needed to evacuate again? I live in this area, and cars are not staying on West College Avenue. Drivers are branching out into the neighborhoods and speeding through to get ahead of the traffic. As for accidents, people are still running red lights.
I guess whoever made this decision did not study this main corridor.
— Margaret Dubkoff, Santa Rosa
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