SAFER CHOICE MOVING IN WRONG DIRECTION

To the editor:

I believe the SAFER Choice organization is moving in the wrong direction
with its campaign. The executive director is quoted saying, "Our mission is
to educate people in Colorado about the consequences of alcohol (use) by
having policies that punish marijuana use; it steers kids towards using
alcohol."

If your mission is to educate the people of Colorado about the consequences
of alcohol use, then educate them. But please do not drive, coerce or
influence people toward using marijuana as a substitute. Especially working
toward making marijuana usage more attractive. That is a poor decision.

The problem of alcohol abuse is being covered up. It's necessary to solve
the problem of alcohol abuse first. That is SAFER Choice's job. One of the
problems is how easy it is to obtain alcohol if you are an underage drinker.

It would be wiser to raise the penalties of underage drinking to equal
those of the use or possession of marijuana. Though alcoholism is a
gigantic problem in itself, the use of marijuana is a gateway to drugs and
problems that in comparison dwarf those of alcoholism.

People ("kids") are not weighing the consequences of alcohol compared to
the consequences of marijuana use in deciding which substance to abuse.
Drinking is more popular, it's cheaper and it's easier to obtain. There are
more effective ways out there to deter the use of alcohol, but the solution
to the problem does not lie within reducing university marijuana penalties.

Ryan Walker

Community member