TEENS HAVE ENOUGH STRESS WITHOUT MARIJUANA

Re: "Boy's distress grew before attack" (A-1, March 18):

You reported that Andy Williams, accused in the Santana High School
shootings, was part of a "smoking circle," kids who got together to smoke
marijuana on a daily basis.

In no way do I suggest that smoking pot alone caused this tragedy, nor do I
offer my opinion as any kind of excuse for what Williams is accused of
doing. What I do say is that marijuana used on a regular basis creates
emotional isolation, warped thinking patterns, paranoia and moral confusion.

It is addictive. People I know have quit using every drug under the sun,
but the hardest to recover from is marijuana. The physical addiction is
subtle, but the emotional upheaval caused by this mild hallucinogen can be
devastating.

Being a teen-ager today is much more difficult than it was for my
generation. They feel the intense pressure to conform, to produce and to
"fit in." Add the influences and stress of modern family life and the media
to the shifting values of today's morals, and a teen-ager's life can become
even more intolerable if pot is in the picture.

We may never know for sure how much or how little marijuana affected Andy
Williams' isolation and desperation, but I believe it could have played a
larger part than you might think.

James Winningham, San Diego