Pubdate: Mon, 21 Dec 2009
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: http://www.chicoer.com/feedback
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper's circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Joe Canzoneri

POT SHOULDN'T BE LEGALIZED

To those of you who smirk at those of us who do not  believe in
legalizing marijuana, and in fact should be  completely eradicated,
keep in mind that pot is addictive.

To simply illustrate how addiction consumes a person's  life, consider
the agony and torture smokers of the  ordinary cigarette go through
when attempting to kick  the habit and how they will pay any price. I
would  venture to say, should it get to $10 a pack, many will  pay
it.

Some excerpts from the National Drug Control Policy: In  10 of our major 
metropolitan areas, as many as 87  percent of people arrested for any crime 
tested  positive for drug use. The most common substances  detected in 
descending order are marijuana, cocaine,  opiates and meth, reaffirming the 
strong link between  drug use and crime. Marijuana abuse is associated 
with  many detrimental health effects. All forms of cannabis  are mind 
altering. Short-term effects of pot use  include problems with memory and 
learning, distorted  perception, difficulty in thinking and problem 
solving,  loss of coordination, increased heart rate and 
anxiety.  Marijuana can lead to addiction. In the case of United  States 
vs. Oakland Cannabis Club, the U.S. Supreme  Court ruled that marijuana has 
no medical value.

If the above information doesn't convince anyone that  pot should not
be legalized, I don't know what else  would.

A confrontational response pot smokers dwell on is why  single out
pot? What about alcohol? The answer is  simple: Why add another drug
to our being?

Joe Canzoneri,  Magalia 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D