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The silly war

Image satirizing the role of Rep. Tom Marino (R, PA-10) in opioid crisis in the United States

Image satirizing the role of Rep. Tom Marino (R, PA-10) in opioid crisis in the United States. “Ex-DEA agent: Opioid crisis fueled by drug industry and Congress,” 60 Minutes, October 17, 2017.

Government officials, police,
media rant against legalizing
pot. Opiates were handed out
by doctors like Halloween candy.
Now we live with those deaths.

Police say pot’ll cause accidents.
Yet alcohol is legal most places.
Hasn’t anyone noticed that making
guns accessible to angry crazies
selling assault rifles to teenagers

and fanatics kills folks every day—
just shopping, going to the movies,
concerts, church, synagogue can
earn you bullets from strangers.
Those same legislators love

guns of any size and shape.
They’re as ignorant about pot
as about critical race theory.
Do they even get the difference
between THC and CBD?

I wonder, do they have any idea
what their children are vaping?

Marge Piercy is the author of twenty books of poetry, most recently On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light, plus seventeen novels, a memoir, a short story collection, and five nonfiction books.
2023, Volume 74, Number 11 (April 2023)
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