IT'S A 'GATEWAY' DRUG

RE: 'It's time to decriminalize possession of marijuana' (May 24). The
Spectator's editorial take on the state of our possession of marijuana laws
lacks one very important factor: The fact that marijuana is considered a
"gateway" drug.

Marijuana is a drug that holds the first place in a line of increasingly
dangerous ones.

Users of hard drugs started with a simple marijuana addiction and then
moved on to more harmful and more potent drugs.

To downgrade the punishment of possession of marijuana would only encourage
more trafficking and more usage.

Our society already suffers enough from substance abuse. The crime
generated and money lost from alcohol abuse alone is proof that
substance-abuse laws, asthey stand, are not enough.

Smoking marijuana in any quantity does nothing positive for society and to
promote it in any way, is unethical.

If we change laws solely to accommodate the recreational pot smokers, then
we are just making it easier for them to continue to break the law and hurt
themselves.

- -- Dave McPherson, Hamilton.