Booze industry getting too much ink in TFP
I like the Chattanooga Times Free Press, but I am getting weary of the promotion of the wine, liquor and booze industry.
Surely, there is more important news to have on the front page than these destroyers of homes and lives. Why not, once in a while, show the pictures of the automobile accidents – with headlines, “Three killed by drunken driver,” or “Alcohol involved in home shooting.”
Alcohol is a drug too. I guess the liquor industry seems to have more advertising money clout. Please give us a break!
Guy Templeton
Soddy-Daisy
U.S. should stop Middle East meddling
Washington continues to exhibit a lack of critical thinking when it comes to the Middle East (besides many other matters such as health care). What will lobbing more cruise missiles or other explosives into Syria accomplish other than prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people and making some members of Congress and the president feel self-righteous? Certainly, the chemical attack on Damascus’ suburbs was execrable, but raining more death and destruction on the population only serves to make it worse.
One thing it will not accomplish is to bring about the fall of the Assad regime, which now seems assured of winning the civil war.
Chemical weapons are immoral, but are they any worse than the white phosphorus that we have been partial to? The perfunctory aid that we have given the rebels since the start of the uprising has been worse than no aid at all, just assuring greater levels of death and destruction. We need to stop meddling in Middle East civil wars.
Terence Knee
Hixson
Trump bashing too much for loyal reader
Please stop all this president bashing. I have been a TFP customer for more than 50 years, and this makes me dread opening my paper. If it doesn’t stop you will be getting cancellations, then your paper will fold.
Judie Schoocraft
Ooltewah
Time has come to legalize marijuana
Legalized recreational marijuana: The U.S. is missing out on a huge economic opportunity by forcing its citizens to come by this product illegally. The legal marijuana industry accounted for more than $8 billion in growth last year alone, and the most modest estimates indicate that by 2025, that number could reach $25 billion. In Colorado, marijuana accounts for a tax revenue three times more than alcohol. But what about health and societal concerns?
Interestingly, the Centers for Disease Control and the University of Washington Medical School found in two independent studies that legalization of marijuana actually decreases teen use. In addition, a University of Oregon study found traffic deaths have decreased in areas where pot was legalized.
Now, that’s not to say that legalization will come without concerns and problems. Conflicting statistics certainly exist, and marijuana is not a victimless product. Just like alcohol, it will need to be carefully regulated. Our country will be forced to undergo a period of growth and adjustment. But marijuana exists, and those who want it will find a way to get it. So why not regulate, tax and benefit from a widely misunderstood product as old as thyme itself?
Hunter Schenk