Pubdate: Wed, 12 Dec 2001
Source: Florida Today (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Florida Today
Contact: http://www.floridatoday.com/forms/services/letters.htm
Website: http://www.flatoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/532
Author: Robert Sharpe

DRUG EDUCATION MUST BE TRUTHFUL

By Robert Sharpe Program Officer Lindesmith Drug Center/ Drug Policy 
Foundation Washington, D.C.

The Dec. 6 editorial on marijuana use among Florida teens listed a host of 
reefer-madness myths designed to support the claim that marijuana is as 
harmful as other drugs.

Sensationalist claims are great for scaring concerned parents into 
supporting a $50 billion drug war, but they can cause teen-agers to 
question the legitimacy of drug education.

The average teen-ager knows far more about the effects of various drugs 
than does Jim McDonough, director of the state's Office of Drug Control. 
The reason kids believe marijuana is less harmful than alcohol is because 
they have witnessed first-hand the effects of both.

Unlike marijuana, which never has been shown to cause an overdose death, 
alcohol poisoning kills thousands of Americans every year. Likewise, 
tobacco is easily one of the most highly addictive drugs available.

Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but that's not the 
point. Teen-agers who realize they are being lied to about marijuana often 
make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs are relatively harmless as 
well. This is a recipe for disaster.

After two decades of scare tactics courtesy of the Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education program, heroin use among high school seniors is at record 
levels. Anti-drug education programs need to be reality- based or they may 
backfire when kids inevitably are exposed to drug use among their peers.
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