We need definite change in America's drug policy. Our current system
is harmful and hypocritical. If we are to raise our children to make proper
choices we must give them truthful information on which to base their
choices. Instead we are expected, like Chris Tippet in his letter to The
Safety Valve Dec. 9th, 1996 to echo the federal government's rhetoric which
is very hard to defend.

Take, for instance, the "gateway theory" that marijuana use leads to
the use of "harder" drugs such as cocaine and opiates. By the government's
own classification marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it is among the
most harmful known. Cocaine and opiates, however, are classified as
Schedule 2, denoting them as less harmful than Schedule 1 drugs.

And how about the statements that marijuana causes cancer at a time
when newspapers everywhere, the Wenatchee World included, are reporting that
THC, in fact, does not cause cancer.

How are we expected to explain such flawed logic to our nation's
young people without them seeing right through this obvious attempt to
distort the truth? How are we to maintain trust and respect from our youth
while so blatantly lying to them?

Lying to ourselves and our children cannot be the way we justify our
American drug policies. I only hope we as a society can realize this before
it's too late.

Sincerely,
Johanna Wools