STRAIGHT DOPE

I'm writing about Nadia Pflaum's outstanding story: " Buzzkill!
(http://www.pitch.com/issues/2004-09-02/news/feature.html)"

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from
using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use
illegal drugs -- not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our
solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially
reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition
tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

Before marijuana was criminalized in the U.S. via the Marijuana Tax Act of
1937, the vast majority of Americans had never heard of marijuana. Now
everybody in the U.S. knows what marijuana is, and the U.S. government
estimates that at least 76 million Americans have used it. About half of
all high school students will use marijuana before they graduate.

People want what they are told they cannot have -- especially children. The
lure of the "forbidden fruit" is very powerful.

Kirk Muse Mesa, Arizona