DECRIMINALIZING POT A DANGEROUS MOVE

Abolishing prohibition against marijuana consumption is legitimizing its
consumption and implying that it's harmless ("Drug prohibition never the
answer," Letters, April 17-24 issue).

As a former pot-consumer myself, I, along with most of my former
pot-consumption peers who I've bumped into these last half-dozen years, can
attest to the permanent damage marijuana can cause to the body and mind.

Scientific proof of such damage? For one, there are the startling facts
published in an article last Sept. 17, in London's Guardian newspaper; it
was authored by professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and
hospital consultant, Robin Murray:

"In the mid-'90s, a Dutch psychiatrist named Don Lintzen, from the
University Clinic in Amsterdam, noted that people with schizophrenia who
consumed a lot of cannabis had a much worse outcome than those who didn't.
This was confirmed by other studies, including a four-year follow-up at the
Maudsley Hospital. Those who continued to smoke cannabis were three times
more likely to develop a chronic illness than those who did not consume..."
Murray learned.

"Why does cannabis exacerbate psychosis? In schizophrenia, the
hallucinations result from an excess of a brain chemical called dopamine.
All of the drugs that cause psychosis--amphetamines, cocaine and
cannabis--increase the release of dopamine in the brain. In this way, they
are distinct from illicit drugs such as heroin or morphine, which do not
make psychosis worse."

Frank G. Sterle, Jr. , White Rock