MARIJUANA NOT A GATEWAY DRUG

To the editors:

Your article "Voters to cast opinion on marijuana use" quotes Rep. Brad
Hill as saying, "The only concern I ever had...is that it's a gateway drug."

So where is this "gateway"? No peer-reviewed professional or medical study
has ever demonstrated it.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine, our top independent authority, states
flatly: "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana
are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."

The Connecticut Law Review Commission says, "Studies of [decrim] states
found (1) expenses for arrest and prosecution of marijuana possession
offenses were significantly reduced, (2) any increase in the use of
marijuana...was less than increased use in those states that did not
decrease their penalties...and (3) reducing the penalties for marijuana has
virtually no effect on either choice or frequency of the use of alcohol or
illegal 'harder' drugs such as cocaine."

Sen. Charles Shannon, of Winchester, a 20-year veteran of the Lexington
Police Department and author of the bill Question 1 supports, testified
that no good ever came from the hundreds of arrests he made in his career.

Since 2000, similar public policy questions have come before the voters in
52 cities and towns and been adopted without exception.

This Tuesday your "Yes!" vote could be the gateway out of this marijuana mess.

Jon Holmes

Allston