DRUG DATA SKEWED

The Herald's March 5 story Marijuana treatment rate went way up is an
example of our government's lies to maintain the cash cow for those
who benefit from its prohibition. The story says that marijuana
treatment rates tripled in the last decade and quotes Tom Riley,
spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Control
Policy, as saying that, "Marijuana is a much more dangerous drug than
many Americans realize." He goes on to say that this is because of
increased potency.

What he didn't say is that these figures correlate to the increased
use of drug courts across the country. They force a defendant to
choose treatment or jail. Which would you choose? What Riley won't say
is that most marijuana being used today is not high grade, but bunk
from Mexico. He won't say that high-grade marijuana does not mean
higher toxicity. No one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana.
In fact, less high-grade marijuana is needed to obtain the same effect
as low-grade pot. Forced treatment does not speak to marijuana's
mythical dangers but rather to the expansion of arrests and criminal
sanctions of peaceful Americans who light up.

Robert Rutan, Homestead