One is once again appalled at the breezy resort to misinformation and
misrepresentation that drug "experts" have trotted out, predictably, in the
wake of the marijuana imbroglio surrounding Olympic snowboarding gold
medalist Ross Rebagliati in Nagano, Japan.

Those quoted in Louise Brown's column, "Growing Pains" (Feb 16), still
insist, despite every reputable study's contrary findings and which studies
one might reasonably expect such dedicated professionals to have read, that
marijuana "is the stepping stone to harder chemicals" or that it is
"addictive."

It is perhaps to be expected that those whose livelihoods depend on
maintaining an aura of danger around the dried flower that is cannabis
would panic, when with every passing day it becomes clearer that Canadians
have lost all patience with our country's absurd and draconian drug laws.

At the very least, however, one might expect the members of their
self-interested little cabal to blush when making a none-too-subtle
association between marijuana and AIDS.

Perhaps being a marijuana alarmist in an era when it begins to ring a
little hollow "impairs judgement" every bit as much as any drug.

Many thousands of parents in Canada have had and continue to have
experience with marijuana, and so will their children. Rather than raising
rhetorical, calculated, leading questions to do with already settled issues
around health and marijuana (ask Rebagliati), peer standing and marijuana,
and so on, why not put a more pertinent question to parents: Do you feel
that your child should be jailed, as have 3,000 other Canadian young people
every year, for smoking a joint?

George Higton
Toronto, Ontario, Canada