DRUG CZAR BLASTED OVER POT STORY

Group Objects After Marijuana Blamed for Colo. Teen's Death

WASHINGTON - A marijuana advocacy group has accused the White House drug
czar of manipulating the story of a Colorado teen's suicide in order to
"perpetrate a fraud" about the dangers of marijuana use.

That charge drew an angry response Thursday from Ernest and Tanya Skaggs, a
Colorado Springs couple who told the story of their son Christopher's
marijuana use and suicide at a White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy event May 3.

"You can tell those dumb b------- up there I buried my 15-year-old son
because of marijuana, and that's how I feel," Ernest Skaggs said. "Ain't no
one using me at all."

The Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the reform of anti- marijuana
laws, issued a statement Thursday sympathizing with the parents but
accusing ONDCP Director John Walters of exploiting them with an incomplete
and misleading story of how the teen died.

Walters and other officials cited Christopher Skaggs' suicide in July 2004
as an example of purported links between marijuana use and serious mental
health problems, particularly in people who use marijuana at younger ages.

The parents described how their son was caught smoking marijuana in January
2004. They said they put him on regular drug testing and under the
treatment of a counselor, who told them that marijuana use was contributing
to their son's depression.

Christopher Skaggs left Colorado temporarily to visit relatives, and just
days after returning home, he hanged himself in the family's home.

Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said it was
misleading for Walters and other officials to blame Christopher -Skaggs'
death on marijuana use, since drug testing had not detected any continued
marijuana usage and only alcohol was found in his system at the time of his
death.

"The scientific evidence connecting alcohol to depression and suicide is
much stronger than the evidence for marijuana," Mirken said.
"Unfortunately, ONDCP has a political agenda here. They're on a crusade
against marijuana. I don't think kids should be smoking marijuana. (But) to
blame marijuana for his death and not even discuss the role of alcohol is
really just wrong."

Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy
Project, was even more blunt: "What kind of man puts a grieving family
through such agony to perpetrate a fraud?"

That drew angry responses from the parents. They said their son was not
tested for marijuana in the time he was away from the family, but that
someone has admitted providing him the drug during that time.

"I'm pretty upset because I don't want them to just think marijuana is a
laid-back drug," Tanya Skaggs said Thursday. "It was involved in our
child's death."

ONDCP spokeswoman Jennifer de Vallance said she was outraged by the group's
attacks.

"Mr. and Mrs. Skaggs have demonstrated tremendous courage and really are
doing a public service to tell their very painful story in the hopes that
other families and other parents won't go through the same thing," de
Vallance said.

"It truly is despicable to belittle their very courageous and important
contribution to this public health effort," de Vallance said.