Pubdate: Fri, 20 Dec 2002
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Contact:  http://www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author: C. R. Hedley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

WRITER DISPUTES POT, HARD DRUG TIE

Regarding Christina Blizzard's column, Pot proposal peeves Mazzilli (Dec. 17).

This bit of information is from WebMD.lycos.com:

". . . researchers from a policy-researching think tank suggest in the 
British Medical journal, Addiction, that teens likely to experiment with 
drugs such as cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens would do so regardless of 
whether or no they used marijuana first."

"Kids who have a high propensity to use drugs will use whatever drug they 
have the first opportunity to use," says Andrew Morral of the RAND Drug 
Policy Research Centre in Arlington, Va. "Usually, their first opportunity 
is to use marijuana."

Mazzilli's arguments seem to to be unresearched, so they should not be 
taken seriously.

Tobacco and alcohol have caused more fatalities combined than marijuana in 
20 years. And, marijuana is less addictive than tobacco and alcohol.

Those last two bits of information can be found in any one of the many high 
schools in London.

How do I know that, because that's where I learned it.

C. R. Hedley, London
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager