MARIJUANA MYTH

The speculation that marijuana use will increase tenfold in towns like
Sebastopol if marijuana is legalized is pure folly ("High drama," June
22).

The myth that myriads of people are waiting at the starting gate to
use marijuana if it is legalized has long been perpetuated by the drug
war establishment.

Legalizing marijuana will allow illegal marijuana users to become
legal marijuana users. Thus, the purchasing of illegal marijuana will
drop, and the purchasing of legal marijuana will increase. True, some
adults might have been interested in trying marijuana but did not
because it is illegal. But the truth is that most adults already have
access to marijuana, and if they wanted to try it, they would have
already.

Brian Scott, Drug Policy Alliance, Los Angeles