BY FROSTY TROY

We’re delighted that the new Attorney General will concentrate on real crime instead of chasing medical marijuana.

Five times as many people die from alcohol each year as from illicit drugs and misuse of legal pharmaceuticals.

More than five times as many people die from poor diets and activity patterns. Twenty times as many people die from tobacco. Why arrest 1.6 million people each year for drugs?

Does jailing drug users make more sense than jailing over-weight people and smokers?
Here are the real figures: Estimated deaths attributed to illicit use of legal and illegal drugs – 20,000; alcohol – 100,000; diet and activity patterns – 300,000; tobacco – 400,000.

Our Source? Substance Abuse and Mental Health Statistics Source Book, Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Page 218.

– Frosty Troy is founding editor of The Oklahoma Observer. Tune in to Friday’s With Frosty on Oklahoma’s Public Radio, KOSU, every Friday at 7:35 a.m. and 4:44 p.m. Listen on-line at www.kosu.org or on these FM frequencies: 91.7 Stillwater/OKC, 101.9 Okmulgee, 107.3 Bixby/Tulsa or 107.5 Ketchum/Tulsa