WRITER ALL WRONG ABOUT LEGALIZED DRUGS

Lawrence Goodwin (Dec. 12 letter) was shocked and delighted (with the
Nov. 28 editorial); when I read his letter I was disgusted.

As a teen-ager, I am frightened by the thought of my peers under the
influence of alcohol, and future colleagues being high!

You may argue that certain teen-agers can obtain alcohol, anyway, and
I know that some come to school drunk every morning, but by legalizing
alcohol for teen-agers you're making that OK.

Even worse than that is legalizing drugs for adults. Throughout three
years of school, I have had to attend classes and programs on drug
education. Used responsibly or not, drugs slowly (or quickly) destroy
your brain. Inhalants such as paint or glue can kill you from one
sniff. Stimulants such as cocaine act like cigarettes, on a greater
scale. Because it speeds up your heart rate, it can cause a heart
attack. Cocaine can also cause strokes, seizures and comas. The high
brought to cocaine users can never be felt once a user has become
addicted, due to the high tolerance for the drug that the user will
develop. They will become immune to the high, but the dangerous
effects of cocaine will still occur.

Marijuana contains more carcinogens and toxic chemicals than
cigarettes (which contain up to 8,000 toxic chemicals). Marijuana
damages your immune system and your lungs and airways. Marijuana is a
hallucinogen.

Some drugs, like heroine, aren't inhaled, and people "shoot" them
(inject them with a needle). Needless to say, these needles often are
not sterilized, and they can spread AIDS and HIV, neither of which are
yet curable.

Drugs are illegal for good health reasons. The more people are
educated about this, the more people will see how deadly they really
are, and the more people will abstain from using them. Legalizing them
would be disastrous.

LINDA AMATO,
Glenville