POT-SMOKING ESPECIALLY HARMFUL TO TEENS

Regarding Greg Sagan's April 22 column, I have no interest in debating him
about Terry McEachern's legal problems or the laws that govern the abuse of
legal and illegal drugs.

However, I am in sharp disagreement with the suggestion that "smoking a
joint in the privacy of one's home should not be considered 'drug abuse'
any more than having a glass of wine with dinner."

This statement certainly does not hold true for teen-agers in their
formative years. Most teen-agers experiment with alcohol, but very few
become alcoholics or are involved in serious or fatal accidents. In
contrast, smoking even one or two joints of marijuana daily over a period
of several years has devastating long-term effects on young people.

Regular use of this drug arrests emotional development at a time when the
young person needs to be excelling in school, making career choices, and
developing interpersonal skills. Too often, the daily use of marijuana
turns a personable, ambitious teen-ager into a depressed, rebellious,
uncommunicative underachiever.

A 19-year-old surgical patient of mine in Albuquerque stated it succinctly:
"I started smoking a joint a day when I was 14 and finally quit last year.
Now I realize that I have the emotional maturity of a 14-year-old, and I'm
scared to death!"

Gordon W. Scott, M.D.