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Opinion: Andy Whyman’s opinion on marijuana is disgraceful

Richard M. Reiter, M.D.
My Turn

Will increased drug infiltration allow an asset or a dangerous beast into North Lake Tahoe?

As a retired surgeon previously in the trenches treating victims of drug and alcohol users, I must question the reasoning and validity of Dr. Whyman’s Sept. 9 opinion article, “Will marijuana turn you into a dangerous beast?

The history that Dr. Whyman exposes as a litany of reasons to not blame marijuana for any of the problems that increased drug use cause is disgraceful on many fronts.



Probably the most injurious is that a practicing psychiatrist has declared that drugs are not the problem but only the anti-drug laws and historical thoughts of the citizens he has summarized.

While at present the violence of drug dealers and drug gangs has not crept into Incline Village (as far as we are told), the drug caused occasional overdose and other related physical and mental problems have a profoundly negative influence on some of our youth and is devastating to locally affected families.



According to our increasingly leftist liberal press and media, anyone who is injured by a policeman, gun or other mishap deserves the utmost scrutiny including the “WHY and HOW could this happen?” statement.

They routinely condemn police as racists for any, even not proven, mistake, but ignore the thousands of minority deaths in our inner cities due to drugs, drug gangs and violence. Making a gateway and arguably addictive drug more accessible to our youth and society refutes their concern of the “Why and How” question.

The repeated excuse of financially controlling and taxing drugs, blaming the disproportionate minority suffering on archaic law and punishment, while not answering the serious issues of the vast drug crimes infiltrating the minority neighborhoods must instead be explained by some other ulterior motive.

Anyone who has had a child become a victim of drug violence or witness the destruction of their productive life won’t buy the lame excuses of wanting to protect minorities or others from lengthy prison terms for non-violent crimes.

The quotation ‘follow the money’ is oft the clue to discovering the real answers. Maybe we need to discover the non-IRS benefactors of the legalized marijuana trade in our community and elsewhere.

An early edict taught every student of medicine is ‘First Do No Harm.’ Can that be said of Dr. Whyman’s arguments?

Richard M. Reiter, M.D., is an Incline Village resident.


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