UP IN SMOKE

Time to legalize: With regard to Ray Stern's story about expensive
bongs ("The Bong Show," August 16), it was recently reported by the
U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime that 12.6 percent of all Americans
between the ages of 15 and 64 admitted to using pot at least once in
2005. Since a large percentage of pot users would not admit to a
complete stranger that they use pot, the percentage of pot users is
probably much higher.

In the Netherlands, where marijuana is quasi-legal for adults, only
6.1 percent of all Dutch people between the same ages used marijuana
at least once in the year 2005.

Most drug war cheerleaders proclaim that if marijuana were
re-legalized, pot use would skyrocket. I believe that the Netherlands
example shows that this probably would not happen.

But suppose pot use did increase. Suppose pot use by adults doubled.
Would this necessarily be bad? I submit that it would not. As pot use
increases, alcohol use declines.

Most frequent marijuana users don't drink alcohol, but those who do
drink alcohol drink substantially less than non-marijuana users.

I believe that most doctors would agree that heavy marijuana use is a
lot less harmful than heavy alcohol use. Heavy alcohol use can and
does kill. No amount of marijuana use has ever killed anyone.

Kirk Muse

Mesa