To the Editor:

Apparently you've discovered that stories about teens and drugs sell.
Unfortunately, you still don't understand the subjects of your stories.
Let's start with your headline on page two of the Dec. 19 edition. "Teen
drug and alcohol parties." Although legal, alcohol is a drug, our most
widely used and abused drug for adults and teens alike.

I'm dismayed that an anonymous PTA member would have the Fourth Precinct "go
into parties and arrest everyone." Does she read the laundry list of
property crimes that occur in the Five Towns every week? Would she divert
limited law enforcement resources from apprehending criminals to arresting
our children? The very suggestion is obscene. Even if we had the spare law
enforcement, the criminal justice system doesn't help, but actually hinders
dealing with drug abuse. Nor is it the responsibility of the Nassau County
Police Department to act in a parental capacity.

Hewlett High School co-president Arlene Davidoff does us all a disservice by
her inaccurate statements about marijuana potency. I believe this myth
exists solely so boomers can explain and rationalize away their past
marijuana use while imprisoning current users. The National Institute on
Drug Abuse and independent researchers (such as Dr. John P. Morgan of the
CUNY Medical School and Lynn Zimmer, Ph.D. of Queens College) have debunked
this claim. Readers can find Morgan and Zimmer's page at
http://www.lindesmith.org/lindesmith/exposing/claim2.html

The truth is that the average marijuana potency has not increased much, if
at all, since the early 1970s when the Potency Monitoring Project began at
the University of Mississippi. Jamaican and Indian populations have safely
used hashish (a more potent preparation of marijuana resins) for centuries,
if not millennia.

Ms. Davidoff also seems to subscribe to the "stepping stone"/"gateway"
theory of drug use; those who use marijuana are far more likely to use
cocaine and heroin. First, most marijuana users never go on to use other
illegal drugs, although most cocaine and heroin users have used marijuana.
To purchase marijuana, a user must enter an illicit market in which far more
dangerous drugs are available.

Since 1976, the Dutch have successfully implemented market separation
without legalizing marijuana. "Coffee shops" which sell small amounts of
marijuana and hashish are tolerated, but sale of "hard" drugs (i.e.,
cocaine and heroin) is strictly illegal. As a result, the Dutch have fewer
hard drug users and problems. Most remarkably, fewer teenagers in the
Netherlands smoke marijuana than their American counterparts.

I strongly urge all interested in dealing rationally with drugs to read
From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know About Mind Altering
Drugs by Andrew Weil, M.D. & Winifred Rosen. It's written to be accessible
to teenagers. The first chapter, "Straight Talk at the Start" is a
masterwork of honest advice to both parents and teens. And a cornucopia of
information is available from Cures not Wars
(http://www.cures-not-wars.org), the Drug Reform Coordination Network
(http://www.drcnet.org and http://www.druglibrary.org) and the Lindesmith
Center (http://www.lindesmith.org).

Sincerely,
Douglas Greene