US Drug Warrior Tries to Fool Canadians on Cannabis PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 266 May 17, 2003 As the current Canadian war on cannabis disintegrates before our eyes, Canadian leaders have to decide what kind of policy will come next. Professional prohibitionists from the U.S. have been suggesting that Canadian pot policy should not be reformed. This absurd position should be offensive to Canadians, especially given the horrible consequences of the drug war for the U.S. Few people have been as wrong about the drug war as Joseph Califano, but he continues to spread misinformation. This week in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, Califano is at it again. Please write a letter to the Globe and Mail exposing the many factual and logical inconsistencies in Califano's assault on common sense. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Contact: TARGET ANALYSIS Canada's leading national newspaper, with a circulation slightly over 336 thousand copies daily, tends to print short letters to the editor. Our analysis shows the average published letter at only 133 words in length. The Globe and Mail very rarely prints letters over 200 words in length. It is best to focus your letter on one narrow topic or argument and state some solid facts about it. Pubdate: Friday, May 16, 2003 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Page: A23 Contact: Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Author: Joseph Califano Note: Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, is a former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare. WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING, CANADA? The issue of decriminalizing marijuana is first and foremost about safeguarding kids and Canada should be attentive to the threat that marijuana poses to youth. We know that neither Canada nor the United States has been able to keep its two legal drugs -- alcohol and tobacco -- out of the hands of teenagers and children. Members of Canada's Parliament should keep this in mind as they consider any proposal to decriminalize marijuana, because the drug's sharp edges undercut claims that smoking pot is a harmless recreation. Research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has established a statistical relationship between the use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana and the use of harder drugs such as cocaine, heroin and acid. Examining data from a U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey of 11,000 ninth-through 12th-graders, CASA isolated teen use of these "gateway" drugs from other problem behaviours. The conclusion: Among teens with no other problem behaviours, those who drank, smoked cigarettes and used marijuana at least once in the past month are almost 17 times likelier to use another drug such as cocaine, heroin or LSD. Most people who smoke marijuana do not move on to other drugs, just as most who smoke cigarettes don't get lung cancer, but both kinds of smokers hugely increase their risks. These risks rise with teen use: The earlier and more often an individual uses marijuana, the more likely that person is to use cocaine. Biomedical research tells us why. Studies in Italy, Spain and the U.S. reveal that marijuana affects levels of dopamine (the pleasure chemical) in the brain in a manner similar to heroin, cocaine and nicotine. The research indicates that marijuana may prime the brain to seek substances such as heroin and cocaine that act in a similar way. While psychological dependence on marijuana is widely recognized, the drug's potential for physical addiction is only recently becoming clear. Studies show that rats subjected to immediate cannabis withdrawal exhibit behaviour changes similar to those after withdrawal from cocaine, alcohol and opiates. Science magazine calls this "the first neurological basis for marijuana withdrawal." Canada's politicians should not underestimate the dangers of marijuana. In the U.S., more teens and children under 19 enter treatment for marijuana abuse and dependence than for abuse and dependence involving any other drug -- including alcohol. Research shows marijuana use can cause respiratory infections, increased heart rate, anxiety and panic attacks. A 2002 study associated marijuana smoking with an increased risk of head and neck cancer. There is also evidence of a relationship between the use of marijuana and psychiatric illness; studies have shown that marijuana use increases the risk of depression and may trigger the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in predisposed individuals. We have known for some time that marijuana harms short-term memory, motor skills and the ability to concentrate. Decriminalization of marijuana would send a signal to Canadian teens that smoking pot can be seen as a rite of passage. It is not. Smoking pot is a dangerous game of Russian roulette that can ruin young lives and devastate parents. That's why Canadians should reject any proposals to decriminalize this dangerous drug. SAMPLE LETTER (Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work.) To the editor, The concerns raised by Joseph Califano, chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, ('What are you smoking, Canada?', May 16), over the possibility that we might decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis are misplaced. There is no evidence from jurisdictions that have decriminalized cannabis, including a dozen U.S. states, that decriminalization has a significant impact on usage rates. American teens consistently report that cannabis is easier to obtain than beer. If cannabis were as addictive as tobacco, as impairing, disinhibiting and criminogenic as alcohol, as toxic as Walkerton water and as demotivating as the nightly news, it would make *less* sense to abdicate its cultivation and distribution to crooks who work on commission. Evidently prohibition does not make the herb less alluring, available, addictive, impairing or harmful. In fact, every major study of cannabis policy before or since Nixon's Shafer Commission has concluded that prohibition magnifies what little harm cannabis causes. Further, according to the Institute of Medicine and the World Health Organization, prohibition is directly responsible for creating the "gateway" from cannabis to the other so-called "controlled drugs and substances." Matthew M. Elrod IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number ADDITIONAL INFO To Help You in Your Letter Writing Efforts, Please See Writer's Resources http://www.mapinc.org/resource/ References You May Find of Value: The well documented cannabis related facts at http://www.drugwarfacts.org/ http://www.drugwardistortions.org/ and http://marijuanainfo.org/ While it is a huge report, using quotes from the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs report will have special value to Canadians. To find material for quotes, use the links at http://cannabislink.ca/gov/#SENATE Just DO It!! Canadian Activists Are Asking That You Please Write Letters to the Editor to Their Newspapers Now, and the weeks ahead, Letters to the Editor of Canadian newspapers from both Canadians and cannabis activists around the world are most important. Please bookmark these links, which will bring up target news items - both today and in the weeks ahead - and write as many letters as possible. By your efforts we can influence the debate in Canada, and perhaps the end result. But it will take an extra effort on the part of all cannabis activists to make it happen. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) Just DO It!! TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Just DO It!! Prepared by: Stephen Young -www.maximizingharm.com DrugSense Focus Alert Specialist = Please help us help reform. 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