It has been some time since I spoke to you. I think for this hiatus I have concentrated on getting into graduate school and avoiding the censure that naturally follows the defense of of the weakest people of our nation. The drug users and abusers are not the weakest but nearly so. They have lost their rights as citizens and forfeited the benefits of a life without crime. Many have lost the ability to make a fair living, some have lost federally guaranteed school loans even when they are otherwise deserving. Some are in jail for little more than association with dealers. Dealers are often no different from you or me except that they are supplementing their inadequate wages with the sale of marijuana, the most popular drug in the whole world.

I have avoided for the moment association with these people, not because I no longer care for them, but because my tolerance for censure, both obvious and political, is not very great. I do care about my position. I don’t want to be fired or otherwise let go from gainful labor. But maybe it is not so surprising, I also do not want to bring censure on the people around me who care little or nothing for the things that concern me.