INFIELD DISREGARDS EVIDENCE WITH MARIJUANA ASSERTION

Editor, the Tribune: In an article published Feb. 27, Columbia Police
Officers Association President Sterling Infield repeats the assertion that
marijuana is a "gateway drug" that leads to the use of harder drugs such as
cocaine or heroin.

In fact, this groundless claim has been rejected by the scientific and
medical community for decades. The "gateway" hypothesis has been thoroughly
disproved by compelling evidence, notably that presented in the federally
funded 1999 Institute of Medicine report - approved by the National Research
Council, National Academy of Sciences.

The report noted that "there is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects
of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit
drugs" - Page 6 - and that only the fact that marijuana is illegal results
in correlation between use of marijuana and use of harder illicit drugs.

Other respected organizations have reached similar conclusions. The National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University concluded in
1994 that "there is no proof that a causal relationship exists between
cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other drugs. Basic scientific and
clinical research establishing causality does not exist."

There are numerous other studies, dating back to before the 1970s, that
reject claims of any causal connection between marijuana and hard drugs.

It's a shame that Infield is using false information and the death of a
colleague - not caused by marijuana or the Columbia ordinance - to attempt
to bypass the will of the voters.

The IOM report "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," is
available at http://books.nap.edu/html/marimed/.

Glenn Rice