Pubdate: Fri, 22 Feb 2002
Source: Oregonian, The (OR)
Copyright: 2002 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n194/a11.html

DRUG LAWS CONTRADICTORY, ABSURD

Alcohol is the leading factor in youth-related car accidents, and tobacco 
is the leading cause of lung cancers.

These two legal drugs cause tens of thousands of deaths each year. 
Meanwhile, our government, with our tax dollars, spends billions to fight a 
drug war in which a whopping 155 people died in Oregon last year by abusing 
such drugs as methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine ("Overdose deaths 
decline; no one quite knows why," Feb. 4).

And can someone please tell me the number of marijuana users who died -- 
ever -- from an overdose?

How many people have to lose their employment, go to jail and have their 
lives ruined not by pot but by the overzealousness and ignorance of the 
drug czars? They love to call marijuana the "gateway" drug, because they 
can't find anything else negative to say about it.

The "gateway" drugs have always been cigarettes and alcohol. The 
contradictions are absurd, the laws unjust.

Kathy Godfrey, Lake Oswego
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager