SEED SELLER AND SENATOR STIR THE POT IN THE DEBATE ABOUT ILLEGAL DRUGS

Re: Prince of Pot case obscured by smoke and mirrors, Voice of the
People, Jan. 15

Letter writer Pam Shaw asserts that, for a taste of reality, Marc
Emery should "talk to the parent of a child whose experimenting with
marijuana led to cocaine/heroin/crystal meth addiction." The various
studies on drug-use patterns in Canada available from the website of
the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, among numerous other studies,
prove conclusively that marijuana is not a gateway drug. So continuing
to insist that it is -- using the logic of guilt by association -- is
nothing more than wishful thinking designed, perhaps, to justify
otherwise insupportable hostility toward marijuana.

We need to take off the blinders and understand that, when we tell
young people familiar with marijuana that it is addicting and as
dangerous as hard drugs, they think we're telling them that those
drugs are also quite enjoyable and relatively harmless. In other
words, the real gateway is not using marijuana, but lying about it.

George Kosinski

Gibsons