ACCESS TO POT COULD BE REGULATED BY LEGALIZING

If the federal government seriously wanted to reduce teenage marijuana use,
it would do the one and only thing that would make marijuana less readily
available to young people, i.e. it would regulate the sale of marijuana.

Contrary to Rebecca Shaver's assertion that alcohol is more readily
available than marijuana ("Students debate effectiveness of anti-pot ads,"
March 19 article), according to a recent study conducted by Columbia
University (and confirming the survey data collected by the National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse), teens find marijuana easier to obtain than
alcohol.

Instead of cutting off teens' supply, the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has launched a multi-million dollar
taxpayer-funded ad campaign to try to influence the decisions of
youngsters. If marijuana was unavailable to 10- and 12-year-olds, these ads
designed to influence their decisions would be unnecessary. What gives me
hope is the old adage, "Government always does the right thing; but only
after exhausting all other alternatives." I guess we are not yet done
trying to exhaust all the ridiculous alternatives dreamt up by the ONDCP in
its attempts to perpetuate the massive amounts of law enforcement funding
for marijuana interdiction and eradication.

Thomas J. Hillgardner

Jamaica, New York