TEACHING THE WRONG LESSONS

I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "TEACHING THE WRONG LESSONS"
(8-1-02). You were right on the money when your said: "Like liquor during
prohibition, anyone who wants pot can get it, and lots of people do."

The problem is that when pot is sold only on the black market, the sellers
of pot often also sell other much more dangerous and addictive drugs like
heroin, cocaine and meth.

Thus, the "gateway effect" is caused by the policy of marijuana prohibition.
Not the marijuana.

As to what would be the lesson if we re-legalized recreational drugs: it's
not the proper role of a free country's government to dictate what adult
citizens may or may not put into their own bodies.

Kirk Muse
Mesa, AZ