"MORE LIES ABOUT MARIJUANA"

Regarding DEA Director Asa Hutchinson's column last Saturday, "Legalizing
drugs is simply surrender".

Methamphetamine use is at epidemic levels throughout the United States. If
our "drug warriors" like Asa Hutchinson of the DEA and Drug Czar John
Walters want to know the reason why, tell them to look in a mirror.

When these people lie and/or grossly exaggerate the dangers of marijuana,
they lose all credibly. At lease half of all high school students will use
marijuana before they graduate. They know from personal experience that
what Hutchinson, Walters and the other "drug warriors" say about marijuana
is false. They know from personal experience, that marijuana is not addictive.

Our youth make the logical assumption that if these people lied and/or
grossly exaggerated the harms and dangers of marijuana, they must also be
lying about the dangers of methamphetamine, cocaine and other hard drugs.

Therefore, we now have a methamphetamine epidemic. There-fore the U. S.
has higher drug usage rates than any European country.

Our drug war is not only not working, it is counterproductive. Our drug
policies are making our drug problems worse--much worse.

It's time to do something different. Substantially different.

Kirk Muse

Mesa