LEGALIZING POT WOULD STYMIE FLOW OF HARD DRUGS

Thank you for publishing Attorneys Robert Sand's and Daniel Sedon's
very thoughtful essays in the Sunday Perspective section Jan. 6 on the
serious legal and social harm resulting from marijuana
prohibition.

I am writing to encourage continued discussion and to add a few
points. First, as a doctor, I know that marijuana is a safe, effective
and inexpensive medication. It relieves nausea and pain. It is not
addictive.

There is no risk of death by overdose. Marijuana's effects on mental
processes are temporary. It does not cause brain damage.

Secondly, as a citizen-observer, may I suggest that legally available
homegrown marijuana might deal a severe blow to the black market in
hard drugs such as meth, heroin and cocaine. Dealers of hard drugs
would no longer be making money on marijuana and, most importantly,
they would lose access to the large market of recreational marijuana
users.

In other words, large numbers of would-be marijuana users, often young
people, will not be pushed into contact with criminal elements in
order to obtain marijuana.

Specifically, they will no longer be at risk of being enticed into
trying the dangerous white-powder drugs, which are the most profitable
to the black market. The possibility that legalizing marijuana could
thus help to stifle the flow of hard drugs into our state is an
important consideration, needing more input from Vermont's criminal
justice professionals.

Kathleen Daye, MD

Waterbury