POT USE DANGEROUS

Editor:

I am very upset over the attitude most people have towards using pot. In
the Friday, April 13th issue the Times, when teens were asked if they would
report other teens using drugs, most responded with "If it's just pot then
probably not."

Where does this attitude come from? Pot is not what it was in the 60s, 70s
or 80s. It's usually laced with other drugs or the plants are sprayed with
stronger illegal drugs.

I'd like to let these teens come to my home and witness the physical and
mental anguish a 17-year-old is going through after four weeks of not
taking "just pot."

I'd like these teens to tell him, "Hey man, pot can't hurt you" when every
muscle and bone in his body is raging in pain, when he can't sleep because
his head pounds incessantly and in the morning his whole body shakes for hours.

Tell him when the very sight of food makes his stomach churn and when he
knows the only relief is for him to go smoke a joint but he's made a
promise to himself to quit the "just pot" so he can have a life. Tell him
when he fights a mental battle every moment with his addiction, when he
blacks out or has memory losses.

I'd like those teens to go to Skid Row in Vancouver and ask each of the
heroin addicts, whose mere skeletal bodies crowd the alleys, how they got
that way. Everytime, the answer will be "Oh, I started just with pot."

It's time each of us opens our eyes and quit hiding behind the "just pot"
is okay slogan. Legalize it? . . .You've got to be kidding.

Not unless you want this young generation of "pot heads" to run our
country. Not me. I'm helping one teen at a time.

Denise Ford,

Chilliwack