DON'T LIE TO OUR KIDS ABOUT DANGERS OF DRUGS

Regarding the June 28 editorial in The Province, both weak and strong
marijuana will yield the desired result.

But more potent marijuana requires significantly less smoke inhalation
and is actually less harmful.

The misleading claims made by the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime are great for scaring up support for a never-ending drug war.
But they can cause teenagers to question the credibility of anti-drug
messages.

Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but that's not the
point.

Teenagers who realize they've been lied to about marijuana may make
the mistake of assuming that harder drugs such as heroin are
relatively harmless as well.

This is a recipe for disaster.

Anti-drug messages must be reality-based or they will backfire when
teenagers are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington D.C.