U.S. HAS HARSHEST LAWS ON USING MARIJUANA

Letter writer Ariel Lipner (Telegram & Gazette, May 13) thinks marijuana
consumption will rise with legalization, but the opposite has proven true
in the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, small amounts of marijuana are sold with government
approval in licensed coffee shops and their marijuana usage is far less
than American use for both teens and adults.

America's teens' and adults' use of marijuana per capita is greater than
any other country in the world and we have some of the harshest laws
possible, including the death penalty for large growers.

We can see that criminal penalties do not keep people from smoking
marijuana. Marijuana prohibition, in fact, increases marijuana use because
the act of smoking grass is a coming-of-age scenario for teens and defines
teen rebellion against the establishment society. The"forbidden fruit"
might come to mind.

There are many forms of marijuana regulation and legalization. Perhaps no
advertising will be allowed or marijuana will only be available by
prescription. We can work out the details and regulations for marijuana so
that its sale is controlled.

The current marijuana prohibition laws are an utter failure and don't
protect our youth from exposure to marijuana, since almost half of all
teens have had access to and tried marijuana.