MARIJUANA VIEWS DRAW RESPONSE (3 Of 4)

Re Editorial, "What were they smoking?" in The NOW, Sept. 7:

You sound like another editor commenting on that which you have not read or
comprehend. The point of allowing access to minors is to separate the
markets for hard and soft drugs. The Dutch have had great success in
shielding their youth from hard drug dealers with this policy, which used
to extend to 14- year-olds. Their heroin problem has decreased dramatically
over the past 25 years. Said policy was rescinded three or four years ago,
and there was a rise in experimentation with various hard drugs.

In all measures, the Dutch beat Canada on reducing harm within the
recreational drug use culture. The Dutch would be wise to move forward with
the current data, and reinstitute the more effective policy.

Take a look at your usage numbers for 16- year-olds for marijuana. Most
with any interest do as they wish to, and you should note your usage rates
far exceed the Dutch. You can protect these adolescents, or you can put
real live people at risk in an overlapping market in hard and soft drugs so
that you can send messages and pretend you are preventing marijuana use.

Matthew Hulett

Short Hills, N.J.