YOUNG'S LETTER FILLED WITH 'MISINFORMATION'

Former MPP Terry Young's most recent attack of moral outrage has reduced me
to a state of bemused ambivalence. I refer, of course, to his Dec. 18
Letter to the Editor on the subject of the federal government's current
proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. A
proposition to which Mr. Young appears adamantly and loudly opposed.

On one hand, the position which he espouses holds broad appeal for my age
and generation. On the other hand, his ill-considered screed, filled with
opinions-posing-as-facts, goes against every civilized, intellectual
impulse that I value. Allow me to explain:

I am a 61 year-old, semi-retiree possessed of the very attitudes that one
might expect of someone my age: conservative, law-and-order supporter,
solidly anti-drug. One would expect that my 1950's-style attitudes would
play directly into Mr. Young's thinly-veiled attempt to get back into the
political arena. But such is definitely not the case. Here's why:

Young folks today are generally far better informed about drugs, sex and a
host of other previously "forbidden" topics than Canadians of older
generations. To attempt to bully or "buffalo" them with an embarrassing
litany of false and misleading pseudo-information does infinitely more harm
than any local pot pusher could. Mr. Young's expressed philosophy and
proposed approach to this question makes a laughingstock out of those of us
who are trying to generate clear, honest, open debate on these issues.

In his role as a former MPP cum opinion-maker for the Town of Oakville, Mr.
Young has a responsibility to bring intelligent, clear-headed thought to
this question. Unfortunately and disappointingly, his letter is riddled
with smugly self-righteous and error-filled assertions with no accompanying
evidence or concrete support. Specifically, he asserts that
"marijuana....very often does (lead to other drugs)". Well wrongo, Mr.
Young. At best, you are naively unaware of the facts. At worst, you are
promulgating disinformation in order to support a personal prejudice.

For openers, you might avail yourself of a recent report covered by several
Toronto newspapers that Rand Corporation (the renowned U.S. think-tank) had
published an article in Addiction magazine. In that respected British
medical periodical, the Rand report stated that, after an exhaustive
research study, it was forced to conclude that "In no way can marijuana be
considered a 'gateway' drug to harder drug-use such as heroin or cocaine."

I could go on and on, as Mr. Young's letter is packed with readily-refuted
misinformation. But here's my point: Laudable though his intentions may be,
by publishing this kind of misinformed rant, the net effect is to
inadvertently undermine those of us who seek clear moral, ethical and legal
debate on the issue.

There are undoubtedly a number of logical, truthful, effective ways to turn
our kids off marijuana-use; but promoting misleading falsehoods is not
among them. All that route accomplishes is the destruction of our parental
credibility.

I would strongly suggest that Mr. Young enlighten his quest by first
seeking input from our local police. As he will quickly learn, the
Association of Canadian Chiefs of Police has for many years recommended the
decriminalization of personal-use marijuana possession. Their reasons are
many and varied.

If parents, teachers and self-styled opinion leaders take the time to
become educated on this important and emotion-laden issue, they will no
longer be perceived as close-minded, credulous fools by kids who see
marijuana use on a regular basis and who are looking to the older and
supposedly wiser generation for clear-headed, unbiased and honest information.

RUSS LITTLE

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