Editor:

Grant Scott-Goforth quoted big numbers in "How Green Is Your Weed?" (April 17) and they provoke big questions. I wonder if 3 percent of the state's power usage is too much to pay for medicine that kills cancer cells and stops them from spreading? Is 3 percent too much to pay for medicine that helps organ transplant patients keep their new organs, and diabetics to keep their vision keen and blood sugar even? Is 3 percent too much to pay for safe and effective pain relief? Considering anti-depressants, anti-spasmodics and anti-anxiety medications as well, here we have herbal potential to replace at least 70 percent of the drugs on the pharmaceutical market today. Is 3 percent of the state's public power usage too much for a recreational substance that is scientifically acknowledged to be less addictive than alcohol and tobacco, and medically safer than Tylenol and aspirin?

I wonder, do we have the numbers for how much power is used by the alcohol and pharmaceutical industries? What about the combined operations of state, local and federal governments, and private prisons — how much power do they use? Could making real changes in government policies change the marketplace and our power use? So many questions raised!

Environmental negativity aside, your most positive theme was a strident call to civil disobedience. Goforth! Leading us to harvest homegrown freely from our own backyards. Growing cannabis as a "stoner," even out of concern for your carbon footprint, is still a crime in Humboldt, no matter whom you blame for voting down Prop 19. You fearlessly declare it the simplest green answer, and with no mention of medical need or doctor's recommendation. Way to exercise freedom of the press! In the words of Neil Young, "Homegrown, it's a good thing. Plant that bell and let it ring."

Alison Murphy, Dow's Prairie