DANGEROUS DRUG

I AGREE with Geraldine Mullins' views on marijuana (Beware stealth in drug
debate, Letters Extra, 11/3). My family has been affected by the
recreational use of marijuana. The young man concerned committed suicide
on January 31. He was a gifted intellectual who was close to obtaining a
university degree.

Most people who smoke pot remain unscathed, but if they have a
predisposition to a mental illness, they can spiral into a drug-induced
psychosis from which they may never recover, which was the case
here. Marijuana is not a fun, low-grade drug when it can snuff out a
life. The people left behind are angry that these facts aren't publicised
enough.

Perhaps the dealers who grow and sell this drug should have to go to the
funeral home and see first-hand what it does. They should also be charged
with manslaughter if they are directly linked to a death. The reason I'm
angry is that it could have been prevented and it affected my daughter.

M. SIMMS Ballajura