NOBODY SHOCKED

Your correspondent Col Parrett is using extreme examples to sensationalise
marijuana use.

Surveys have shown that most adult Australians have either sampled or used
marijuana - most are not dependent just as most alcohol drinkers are not
alcoholics.

Making marijuana illegal has simply made it more available - it's easier
for a schoolkid to get marijuana than pizza because there are many drug
dealers at every secondary school in Australia, whether we like to admit it
or not.

Many marijuana dealers are not evil pushers, but simply fellow students of
the users at the school.

Even those students or kids who do not use marijuana don't care if others
do - it's so widespread and shocks nobody. All the scare campaigns are just
laughed at by our youth because they know people using drugs with no harm
and a lot of fun.

Cannabis is freely available in Holland and yet marijuana usage is lower
there among youth than in the US with its strict prohibitionist policies.

It's time to face reality.

Lyndon Smith
Cremorne, NSW