NEW POT LAW SHOULDN'T BE TAKEN TO MEAN IT'S OK

I love that term "relatively safe" used by writer Stan White from
Dillon, Colo., when he refers to the use of marijuana in his My View
column (The Times, Jan. 5).

I will gladly admit I was totally against the passing of the new
"pot" law. I do not believe it was right, nor do I believe law
enforcement was ready and in place with how to handle the new law.
That fact has been recently recognized quite a bit; I hope they work it out.

Mr. White refers to the fact that students are brainwashed into
believing half truths, lies and propaganda about this "God-given
plant" - one that is "relatively safe and socially acceptable," were
the words he used.

People like Mr. White scare me. He may think it is OK for kids to
have a few beers, too. Mr. White goes so far as to say marijuana use
has never killed a single person. I suppose he feels that no one has
ever operated a vehicle while "stoned," "high," "under the
influence," whatever you want to call it. He seems so sure this type
of drug use has never contributed to a death. I have to question that.

I'm proud to say I have a family relative who is 14 years clean and
sober from drug addiction. It's pretty safe to say he started with
pot when he was a kid, when it was cheap and not mixed with a lot of
other things the way we hear and read it often is today. He wasted 20
years of his life.

Hey, no big deal; it is just weed, right? Why not give something else a try?

It is foolish for Mr. White to think people try pot because they want
to prove a DARE program wrong about the "fears" and the "harmfulness"
that are taught. Even if you don't believe marijuana has the
potential to be a gateway drug, it is still a drug that alters your
state of being and judgment. Whatever marijuana is legally classified
as, it is still a drug.

I recall myself in a social situation about 10 years ago in my late
30s when some people I was with were all giddy with the fact that
they had some "pot." It was something some of the people hadn't seen
in 20 years or more. A few went off to smoke it and offered me to
join along. I declined.

When I was asked why not, I said that I'd made a decision a long time
ago that if I was ever to have a family one day that I didn't want my
child to have the example of me doing or thinking it's OK to do drugs
of any kind whether it be regularly or even once in a blue moon.

If there are medical reasons a practicing, licensed physician deems
pot viable for the use, that is another matter. I can't speak to that
as I am not fully aware of those benefits. Other than that, I think
it is just another excess that we as a society are putting out there.

Do you want to be considered the cool parent because you let underage
drinking go on in your home?

If you are a pot-smoking adult, are you going to let your teens join
you because the law has changed?

People who are high or buzzed cause fires because they are out of it,
walk and get hit by cars, stumble and drown in puddles. I'm pretty
sure they probably even get behind the wheel while high. Mr. White
from Colorado doesn't seem to think that could be a problem.

Check out Safe Homes of Gloucester and the Healthy Gloucester
Collaborative and get involved.

Donna Viau

East Gloucester