Letters May 11

Return of liquor stores?

A minority of Washington’s voters went to the polls in 2012. A majority of that minority voted to close the state liquor stores, and move the hard form of that drug into child accessible stores. It’s not going well.

Remember those tiny bottles of liquor that airlines used to sell to their passengers? Tiny – several can be hidden in one of your socks – just the right size for a child to take. Sunset Mart in Pullman has an open display rack, right down to the floor – just the right level for a child – and right by the door.

The unleashing of marijuana is not going well, either. I’m noticing advertising for marijuana in newspapers, on billboards, on store fronts and on signs in front of stores. And I’m seeing multiple marijuana stores.

I wish that conservative people would visit with their legislators, asking for a bill that would let the people vote on re-establishing the state liquor stores, and restricting the retail sale of liquor and marijuana to those stores. No advertising.

Psychiatrist John Marks, who ran a successful drug clinic, observed that “...if a drug is available, as through the Norwegian state alcohol monopoly, with neither advertising promoting nor prohibition making it alluring to the immature, then a minimum use in society is achieved.”

The legislative process has the potential to develop a well rounded measure for us to vote on.

And maybe this time, a majority of the minority will vote to protect the families.

Wiley Hollingsworth,

Pullman