* Some ideas are like the fictional Jason, who inspired "Friday the
13" and multiple sequels: they simply cannot be killed.

Clearly, the "gateway" canard, invented by Harry Anslinger and
defended by Joe Califano, falls into that category.

Anslinger was nothing if not inventive; the effects of cannabis were
so universally unknown in the mid-1930s that he was able to claim
(successfully) that it provokes casual users to murderous rage.
Nowadays, thanks to the success of the criminal market he campaigned
for, that idea would be hooted off the stage.

Gateway and numerous sons of gateway have proven far more durable than
"reefer madness," probably because there is a strong correlation
(acknowledged in the IOM report) between use of tobacco, alcohol,
cannabis and other drugs.

This is the obverse of Mr. Califano's other nugget: people who haven't
used any drugs at all by age 21 are unlikely to do so. Perhaps the
most reasonable interpretation of his tortured "data" is that some
people are much more likely to use drugs than others, a tendency
usually expressed during their teen years. Unfortunately for Mr.
Califano's purposes, that interpretation could hardly justify
arresting 700,000 people a year in a futile attempt to shut one
gateway while allowing two others to gape invitingly.

Mark Honts
Fort Worth, Texas