ERADICATING MARIJUANA PROTECTS KIDS AGAINST GATEWAY TO NARCOTICS

It was ironic that Dan Rodricks' criticism of the Maryland State Police's
marijuana eradication efforts ("Officials could use a refresher course or
2," Sept. 15) appeared in the same edition of The Sun that reported drug
overdose deaths now exceed homicides ("Overdose deaths exceed slayings,"
Sept. 15).

What do marijuana growers have to do with heroin overdose?

It is well-documented that a young person headed for a life of drug abuse
usually doesn't start with crack or heroin. He or she is very likely to
experiment first with marijuana.

By the time the youngster reaches high school, he or she is ready to try a
drug such as heroin -- which has taken far too many young lives.

Law enforcement is regularly criticized for arresting only drug users and
not targeting dealers and suppliers.

But our marijuana eradication program targets the growers, those
manufacturing a drug that ends up in Maryland's schoolyards and neighborhoods.

So far this year, we have arrested 65 marijuana growers. We have recovered
and eradicated 5,500 marijuana plants. If those plants were harvested and
processed for sale, they would have rewarded growers with $10 million in
profits.

Working with the Maryland National Guard, we are able to keep the costs of
the eradication program to a minimum. And we support drug task forces and
local police departments across Maryland.

There is no doubt drug treatment is vital and we need more of it. But for
us to stand by and let this gateway drug be manufactured in our own fields
and forests would be a reckless neglect of duty.

It would mean we were standing beside an open gate, willingly watching our
young people begin their journey down a path that can lead from marijuana,
to pills, to cocaine, to heroin and, too often, to death.

I intend to help shut that gate before their tragic journey begins.

The writer is superintendent of the Maryland State Police.