Writing from my perspective as a retired street cop, the Feb. 5 article by Rebecca Jones, “Valley teen: Marijuana is widely available,” demonstrated the need to treat marijuana like alcohol, that is, legal, regulated and taxed. Kids are not selling beer and cigarettes in school, just an illegal drug like marijuana.

Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don’t ask for identification for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children.

No teen should have the job option to sell drugs. To help our kids, we should repeal this marijuana prohibition today.

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Howard Wooldridge

Golden

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Thanks to the Aspen Komen Foundation. As a provider of women’s health services in Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties, I am proud to support the Aspen affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

For all my years in the valley, the Aspen Komen Foundation has provided the much-needed support for breast cancer screening, diagnosis and women’s health in our valleys. I applaud the Aspen affiliate for its character and commitment to uninsured and underinsured women in our valleys.

By reaffirming and continuing to support the foundation’s mission in our area despite the stance of the national leadership, the Aspen Komen affiliate proved that it cares first and foremost for the health and well-being of the citizens in our wonderful communities.

The women of our communities and their families have a true friend and loyal source of support in the Aspen Komen affiliate. Kudos for their commitment.

Dr. Mary J. Glode

Glenwood Springs

I have recently joined a group of local folks who are interested in getting an ordinance passed in Glenwood Springs that would allow city dwellers to raise backyard chickens.

Our group has been meeting regularly, and we have taken a class on how to raise chickens. This class was an excellent resource in terms of information, and we actually visited a chicken coop and enclosed run to learn how to make the chickens comfortable and safe.

The group is not interested in roosters, merely laying hens. The concept is about having a sustainable, healthy food source.

Backyard chickens are becoming very common in many U.S. cities, including New York, Denver, Saratoga, Fla., Santa Fe, N.M.,and Las Vegas.

We think it is time for Glenwood Springs to be added to the list of cities allowing backyard chickens.

Our group would greatly appreciate the support of members of the community in encouraging City Council to pass this ordinance.

Jackie Durrett

Glenwood Springs

Of course the following reference study is wrong. It just goes to show the lengths unpatriotic liberal academics will go to deflect from the real problems: Nancy Pelosi, George Soros, Barack Obama. And it’s certainly not evident in the continual day after day after day contributions to this section of our highly insightful and dedicated local press.

A medical study by the University in Ontario asks “Do conservatives tend to be less intelligent?”

The study, published in Psychological Science, showed that people who score low on I.Q. tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.

I.Q., or intelligence quotient, is a score determined by standardized tests. But whether the tests truly reveal intelligence remains a topic of hot debate among psychologists.

Dr. Gordon Hodson, a professor of psychology at the university and the study’s lead author, said the finding represented evidence of a vicious cycle: People of low intelligence gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, which stress resistance to change and, in turn, prejudice, he told LiveScience.

Why might less intelligent people be drawn to conservative ideologies? Because such ideologies feature the structure and order that make it easier to comprehend a complicated world, Hodson said. “Unfortunately, many of these features can also contribute to prejudice,” he added.

Dr. Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist, echoed those sentiments.

“Reality is complicated and messy,” he told The Huffington Post in an email. “Ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simpler solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.”

Michael Weinstein

Glenwood Springs

After reading about “Charles” and his misadventures with the “killer weed” in the Feb. 5 article by Rebecca Jones, “Valley teen: Marijuana is widely available,” I hovered between laughter and anger. The funny part is Charles’s problems are implied to be caused by the availability of pot to state-licensed adults.

Instead of Charles or his parents taking responsibility, they blame the availability of pot.

What raises my ire is Charles’s dirtbag supplier got off free as a bird. This criminal is still able to corrupt other children because Charles refused to identify him. Some soft-headed judge is teaching this juvenile miscreant that there are no consequences for his behavior.

If Charles had been given the choice of giving up his supplier or his freedom until he’s 18, I bet that 40-year-old piece of human trash wouldn’t still be on the streets.

It’s about time the marijuana-hating, purist Bible thumpers start blaming the true villains of their discontent, not a legitimate, taxpaying business.

Bruno Kirchenwitz

Rifle

Planned Parenthood does more than 300,000 abortions a year. It receives more than $300 million from taxpayers. How much of taxpayer and Susan G. Komen money is spent for abortions?

Taxpayers’ dollars could be given to clinics that do not promote abortions.

Planned Parenthood received at least one third of its clinic income from taxpayer dollars, yet it is not accountable to the taxpayer or even to Congress for how it spends that money.

John Lepkowski

New Castle