USE OF MARIJUANA BY COLORADO WORKERS

Re: "7 pot 'hot spots' light up state," May 2 news story.

In this article, federal drug czar John Walters reports that Colorado
has seven areas where marijuana detection in the workplace exceeds
that of the national average, and he explains that these stats reveal
a general rise in overall usage in these places. "This data shows us
where to put resources for treatment," Walters says.

Unfortunately, he fails to justify why these "hot spots" need
resources (i.e., tax dollars) for treatment in the first place. Do
these areas have higher crime rates? Are there increased incidences of
work-related injuries or absentees in these zones? What about
above-average health problems? Or how about average test scores among
college and high school students residing in these "hot spots"?

Couldn't Walters find any data to correlate increased marijuana usage
to increased societal woes - or would showing that data have been a
pie in his own face?

George Archambault, Lakewood