In recent months I have been both saddened and in despair over the unacceptable nastiness of writers who have chosen to punish those who have the nerve to disagree with them in print.

Putting aside the risk, I have chosen to write this letter advocating changing our laws to allow marijuana to be totally decriminalized and restricted only in the same manner as tobacco.

I have been a family doctor for over 50 years and my opinion is that abuse of any substance is a medical problem, not a legal one.

Proper treatment is the expertize of physicians, not jailers. Complete legalization in Colorado has not caused that state to fall into debauchery as predicted, but has unexpectedly resulted in a financial bonanza.

Meanwhile, Arizona taxes us to death and is still near bankruptcy. So are we stupid or just our elected lawmakers?

I strongly and without reservation recommend we abandon our illusions and face the reality that physicians do a much better job than lawyers in curing medical problems.