GATEWAY SNARED MY DAUGHTER

Re: The letter from Howard J. Wooldridge in Keller, ("Marijuana kills?"
Letters, Oct. 28). I presume from the content of his letter that he has
never had to experience a loved one who is either alcohol or drug
dependent.

When my daughter was 16, she was arrested on a marijuana charge. This is
the same girl who loved sports all her life, and had the athletic ability
to participate in any sport. She was always the best athlete on her team,
whatever sport it may have been. As do immature children, she thought there
was nothing wrong with smoking some weed. Who was to know that the
marijuana would lead to stronger drugs? Therein lies the problem with "just
smoking marijuana." The majority of kids who start with marijuana don't
think that they will go "any further" with their drug use. But who is to
know anyone's addictive nature until it is tested? The same ideas that
marijuana's OK, nothing "big," gets people into heroin and other drugs. All
kids think they are immortal and that nothing can hurt them.

That is the reason Mr. Wooldridge has never heard of people dying by
overdosing on marijuana. That drug is the gateway to the heroin and cocaine
deaths that we read about in the newspapers. And, who is to know if when
one picks up that first joint if they will be the headlines in times to
come?

My daughter is 21 now. After she dropped out of school, she did get her GED
(court ordered). She has been through drug rehab, but she will always have
that arrest record for as long as she lives. We live day to day - that's
what you do with a recovering addict. My love goes with her every day of
her life with hopes that she will not have a
relapse. One never knows, and she is the only one who has control over that.

I don't know Howard Wooldridge, but I hope he never has to experience a
loved one with an addiction. That is something I wouldn't wish upon my
worst enemy!

Barbara Sneed, Plano


Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson