It’s not pot, it’s the law

Bennett Minton [letters, Jan. 15] noted that lighting a marijuana “nightcap” causes harm to “collateral victims” through the “violence and waste” that result. But choosing an alcoholic nightcap also causes collateral damage by funding violent mobsters such as Al Capone. Oh, wait — that was only true during Prohibition. So maybe it’s the drug law, not the drug, that causes most of the collateral harm.

Richard Kennedy, Lorton

The writer is a member of the board of directors of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.