CANNABIS DOESN'T LEAD TO HARD DRUGS

Norwich coroner William Armstrong seems adamant that cannabis use is a
"gateway" to hard drug use.

This is despite evidence to the contrary from both the Home Affairs
Committee and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs reports, and the
opinion of almost every expert in the field (A gateway to harder drugs?,
EN, 7 June)

Most people who use heroin "started" on cannabis.

Well, actually they probably "started" on alcohol, or even drugs from the
doctor, or maybe even getting giddy as a child. Most armed robbers
"started" on water pistols. However, most children who used water pistols
never became armed robbers. Likewise most cannabis users do not slip into
hard drug addiction.

At last the Government is beginning to dismiss completely the so-called
gateway theory and at last they are beginning to recognise that treatment
is better than punishment.

The sooner that it realises that legalisation of cannabis would help break
the link between it and hard drugs, the better for all of us.

Legalisation of cultivation of cannabis at home would be an incredible
beneficial step.

The gateway is the profit-motivation created by prohibition.

Some of the dealers who sell hard drugs may well tempt their customers by
also offering cannabis. Some of those customers may experiment; some may
get addicted; some may even die.

That is the cost of prohibition and the dreadful stance that has thrown all
these substances into the same basket.

Alun Buffry

Legalise Cannabis Alliance

Norwich