PATHOLOGICAL ON POT

I'd like to thank the Drug Enforcement Administration's Karen Tandy
for illustrating the federal government's almost pathological
dishonesty about marijuana ("War on marijuana does indeed save
teens," letter, May 18). Virtually everything she wrote is
incomplete, out of context, or plain false. Tandy pulls out the old
canard about supposedly higher levels of carcinogens in marijuana
smoke than in tobacco smoke. She fails to mention that repeated
studies, often financed by the government, have consistently found
that -- unlike tobacco -- marijuana smoking does not increase the
risk of lung cancer. Indeed, marijuana's active components have
well-documented anti-cancer effects.

As for the Netherlands, here's the truth: After three decades of
regulated marijuana sales to adults, marijuana use rates in the
Netherlands are at least a third lower than in the United States, for
both teens and adults. And use of hard drugs, such as cocaine and
heroin, is three times higher in the United States than in the
Netherlands. Why? Because the Dutch have taken marijuana out of the
criminal market and broken the "gateway" between marijuana and hard drugs.

It really is time for our government to stop lying about this issue.

The writer is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project.