TODAY'S STRONGER MARIJUANA FAR FROM 'RELATIVELY HARMLESS'

I thoroughly agree with the statement by Robert Sharpe in his Jan. 22 letter
that "U.S. schools should invest in reality-based drug education." Such
education would have to include the fact that marijuana is extremely bad
news, not "relatively harmless" as Mr. Sharpe and others insist.

As a former pot addict, I know. For many of my pot-smoking years, I was just
like all of today's pot advocates, arguing vehemently that it's great,
relatively harmless and all the rest of the nonsense they spew. When you're
addicted to pot or any other substance, you deny you're hooked, and ignore
the substance's down sides. This is true of pot, alcohol, every addictive
drug.

According to Dr. Daryl Inaba, former head of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic
Drug Detoxification Program and a preeminent authority on pot, marijuana is
bad news across the board. It is some 1,400 percent stronger nowadays. That
makes it a hard drug, especially among kids, Dr. Inaba says. He cites
marijuana users who stop using and complain of a craving to use. And if weed
is put in front of them, there's an almost uncontrollable urge to use it.

Advocates of pot legalization or decriminalization like Robert Sharpe of the
Drug Policy Alliance are dead wrong in their advocacy, and The Maui News
does a great disservice to this community by regularly publishing their
pro-pot, pro-drug propaganda.

Jerome Kellner

Makawao