DRUG FACTS

Given the debate on these pages between Kirk Muse and David Smith, perhaps
some facts should be injected into the conversation.

Fact: Science, the kind conducted by top government researchers, has
repeatedly debunked the "gateway theory" for marijuana.

Fact: The most commonly reported recreational drugs used first by children
are alcohol and tobacco.

Fact: Alcohol is the only drug directly linked to violent behaviour.

Fact: Marijuana is not entirely harmless, it is however the least harmful
recreational drug of choice, that has no known lethal dose.

Fact: Marijuana is no more addictive than caffeine.\

Fact: Drug warriors directly contribute to the increase and spread of drug
use among the young by dispensing disinformation, false information and
resulting to scare tactics in place of factual education.

Fact: Prohibition creates a violent black market; It creates incentive to
"hook" more people on the hard addictive drugs, and generates billions
($400 annually according to the World Health Organization) of dollars that
lead in turn to violence in the streets as gangsters fight over territory.

Fact: The "drug warrior" mentality has made the United States the country
with the highest rates of drug use in the free world.

Jim White

Oregon, Ohio