MORE POT, LESS ALCOHOL

To the editor:

I'm writing about Barbara Taormina's story, "High Time?" (8-10-07).

It was recently reported by the United Nations 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.

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

Most durg 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 that pot use did increase.. Suppose pot use by adults
doubled. Would this necessarily be a 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

South Clearview Avenue

Mesa, AZ