LOST CREDIBILITY

I applaud anyone's effort to keep kids off drugs, but it is adults
who have failed to keep drugs away from kids, and it is adults who
have failed to keep kids away from drugs ('Drugs easy to get at,
students say,' The Chronicle, March 1.) Just like alcohol in the last
century, it is adults' ridiculous prohibition that has made it this way.

Adults have lost all credibility when it comes to all drugs, because
we have lied and exaggerated the so-called "dangers" of marijuana. We
tell kids that marijuana will cause cancer, schizophrenia, impotence,
permanent stupidity and an addiction to hard drugs.

When kids find the truth on their own (which is just a Google search
away), they will realize they have been systematically lied to by
people they once trusted. They will think; "Adults lied about Santa
Claus, the Easter Bunny and marijuana, so they must be lying about
meth, crack, booze, safe-sex and safe-driving, too." And who can blame them?

We advertise booze, fast cars, fast food, violent movies and video
games and drugs of all kinds on TV, then tell kids "say no to drugs."
We give kids Ritalin, instead of reducing their sugar and Game-Boy
intake, and then tell kids "Marijuana is dangerous!" They see right
though this hypocrisy. A ruse by any other name...

Taking the marijuana business out of the hands of kids and criminals
and putting it into the hands of responsible adults is socially
conservative. Generating tax revenue from that industry is fiscally
conservative, and using that money to teach kids why they should
avoid drugs is morally conservative.

By not legalizing and regulating marijuana production and sales, we
subsidize criminals, make pot easier for kids to access than either
tobacco or alcohol, waste valuable police resources and billions of
dollars annually, deprive ourselves of a source of valuable medicine
and miss out on $3 billion in annual tax revenue.

For those keen on educating kids about drugs without all the
fear-mongering, hyperbole, and absurd hypocrisy of the standard "drug
education" programs, I recommend the Educators For Sensible Drug

Policy website at www.efsdp.org.

Russell Barth

Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder

Ottawa