NEW POT LAW SHOULD BRING TRUTHFUL AWARENESS

To the editor:

One important component of Massachusetts' Question 2 ("Safety group
maps plan for tackling new pot law," The Times, Jan. 2), will come in
the form of a more honest "drug awareness program" that will lower
hard drug addiction rates.

Now it will be more difficult to brainwash students into believing
lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning the relatively safe,
socially acceptable, God-given plant cannabis (marijuana). They will
be taught the truth; cannabis is not nearly as dangerous as honest
hard drugs.

How many citizens try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful
as taught in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) type government
environments? Then they think other substances must not be so bad
either, only to become addicted to deadly drugs. The old lessons make
cannabis out to be among the worst substances in the world, even
though it's never killed a single person.

The federal government even classifies cannabis as a Schedule I
substance along with heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are
only Schedule II substances. For the health and welfare of America's
children, that absolutely must change.

To further help citizens avoid hard drugs, cannabis must be available
from regulated businesses so people do not often come in contact with
sellers of hard drugs.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.