MARIJUANA ON STATE BALLOT

Cindy Rodriguez's arguments against Amendment 44 are persuasive,
except for one key point. Relaxing anti-pot law does not mean greater
use by kids. I first heard the "kids and pot" alarm in the hype
leading up to California's 1996 enactment of Proposition 215 for
medical marijuana. Prop 215 would send the wrong message, I heard, and
I believed it at the time. But I was wrong. Kids' pot use has been on
a downward trend since 1996, based on California's latest biennial
student survey. Prop 215 was not the only influence in the past eight
years, but if it was as bad as many thought, kids' pot use should have
at least stayed flat.

John Chase, Palm Harbor, Fla.