MARIJUANA IS NOT A GATEWAY DRUG

Re: Authorities Sour On Marijuana-Flavoured Sweets, Feb. 24.

Someone should ask drug counsellor Rosemary Munro to cite the "numerous
studies" that indicate that marijuana is "a gateway to harder drugs." The
best and most recent Canadian report on the subject, the Senate Report on
Illegal Drugs: Cannabis, released in September, 2002, tells a different
story. Four pages into the report's summary, we can read that the gateway
theory "has not been validated by empirical research and is considered
outdated." Later, the report states, "Cannabis itself is not a cause of
other drug use. In this sense, we reject the gateway theory."

The Senate committee spent two years studying the marijuana issue.
Perhaps Ms. Munro should read it.

Cedric Silvester, Peterborough, Ont.