TIME TO RETHINK DRUG-WAR PRIORITIES

As a parent of two young children, I found the article "Prescription
drugs find place in teen culture" to be very disturbing (Cover story,
News, Tuesday).

I have to wonder whether the perception that pharmaceutical drugs are
safer is a direct result of the federal government's "reefer madness
revisited" anti-drug campaign.

While organic marijuana is demonized at taxpayers' expense, more and
more kids are taking potentially deadly pharmaceuticals, including
synthetic heroin.

Has pot ever been shown to cause an overdose death? Certainly, the
makers of aspirin or distributors of alcoholic beverages can't make
such a claim.

Marijuana is arguably the safest recreational drug available, legal
or otherwise. The war on marijuana is part of a larger culture war
that should have ended with the Vietnam War.

If kids are finding it easier to purchase prescription OxyContin than
marijuana, perhaps the federal government needs to rethink its
drug-war priorities.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington, Va.