DRUG LEGALIZATION

Editor, The Star, Sir,

Pro pot-legalization advocates should take comfort: the current
mentality of many Canadian court judges is quickly directing our
society towards such legalization, or, at the very least,
decriminalization [`Cell phone leads to pot`, pg.9, March 29].

Of course, the first illicit drug to be legalized will be marijuana;
and along with its legalization, I, an ex-pothead, believe that common
sense, along with some studies, dictates that its consumption will
thus proliferate.

Note the great increase in alcohol abuse following the abolishment of
alcohol prohibition earlier this century. According to health ministry
literature, "Prohibition in both Canada and the United States was
successful in dramatically reducing the extent of alcohol abuse and
alcoholism, at least for the period of its existence."

Furthermore, a health ministry-funded study on cannabis consumption
reveals that a permissive attitude (e.g. legalization) towards
marijuana results in its increased consumption - and the detrimental
effects of that consumption - among youths. The study, conducted by
UBC's Institute of Health Promotion Research, surveyed illicit drug
use among 8,179 B.C. students in 1993 and then again during Spring
1995 at 20 schools province-wide.

One study supervisor, UVic nursing-school assistant-professor Marjorie
MacDonald, noted that, "kids who said their parents were 'strongly'
against it were considerably less likely to use marijuana than kids
who said their parents were just 'somewhat' against it."

And the study's findings likely under-represent the true level of drug
use: "The kids who are absent on the day the survey was done tend to
be absent more often," says MacDonald. "Generally, there's a
relationship between kids and drug use on skipping [classes], lateness
and all those kinds of things."

I, a former frequent drug consumer, believe that when - not if -
illicit drug consumption is legalized in Canada, society undoubtedly
will suffer the consequences.

FRANK STERLE,
White Rock