REBUTTING THE 'MYTH' OF THE GATEWAY DRUG

Dear Editor:

Dear Editor - In rebuttal to the article in which MP Brenda Chamberlain
states that marijuana is a "gateway drug that leads to harder and more
dangerous ones." As we all know from the recently published Senate report,
it has been scientifically proven that this is not the case.

This is a popular myth used by perpetrators of these so-called scare
tactics to maintain a status quo of anti-drug of any kind. It starts by
polling 100 heroin users and asking them if they ever smoked marijuana and
99 say "yes". However, it goes both ways. One hundred marijuana smokers, if
polled, only one or two will be heroin users. So where is the "gateway"
theory now? Out of both groups of 100, all of them started with mother's milk.

With this in mind I request, Ms. Chamberlain, that you reveal your source
of information. As a paid, elected representative of the citizenry you had
better have your facts straight, and not just repeat age-worn arguments
handed down from generation to generation.

Get over it. Drug use will not go away. It has been a part of human culture
for thousands of years, and will continue to be, long after we have all
shuffled off this mortal coil.

So what do we do? Perpetrate a system of persecution because citizen A
chooses marijuana intoxication over citizen B's choice of alcohol? Or a
system of freedom of choice for responsible adults, living together in a
rational society?

Derek Wildfong, Owner, Hemp Asylum, Guelph