Pubdate: Fri, 29 Jan 2009
Source: Gloucester Daily Times (MA)
Copyright: 2009 Essex County Newspapers, Incorporated.
Contact: http://www.salemnews.com/email/#Editor-g
Website: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/169
Author: Donna Viau
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n014/a08.html

NEW POT LAW SHOULDN'T BE TAKEN TO MEAN IT'S OK

I love that term "relatively safe" used by writer Stan White from 
Dillon, Colo., when he refers to the use of marijuana in his My View 
column (The Times, Jan. 5).

I will gladly admit I was totally against the passing of the new 
"pot" law. I do not believe it was right, nor do I believe law 
enforcement was ready and in place with how to handle the new law. 
That fact has been recently recognized quite a bit; I hope they work it out.

Mr. White refers to the fact that students are brainwashed into 
believing half truths, lies and propaganda about this "God-given 
plant" - one that is "relatively safe and socially acceptable," were 
the words he used.

People like Mr. White scare me. He may think it is OK for kids to 
have a few beers, too. Mr. White goes so far as to say marijuana use 
has never killed a single person. I suppose he feels that no one has 
ever operated a vehicle while "stoned," "high," "under the 
influence," whatever you want to call it. He seems so sure this type 
of drug use has never contributed to a death. I have to question that.

I'm proud to say I have a family relative who is 14 years clean and 
sober from drug addiction. It's pretty safe to say he started with 
pot when he was a kid, when it was cheap and not mixed with a lot of 
other things the way we hear and read it often is today. He wasted 20 
years of his life.

Hey, no big deal; it is just weed, right? Why not give something else a try?

It is foolish for Mr. White to think people try pot because they want 
to prove a DARE program wrong about the "fears" and the "harmfulness" 
that are taught. Even if you don't believe marijuana has the 
potential to be a gateway drug, it is still a drug that alters your 
state of being and judgment. Whatever marijuana is legally classified 
as, it is still a drug.

I recall myself in a social situation about 10 years ago in my late 
30s when some people I was with were all giddy with the fact that 
they had some "pot." It was something some of the people hadn't seen 
in 20 years or more. A few went off to smoke it and offered me to 
join along. I declined.

When I was asked why not, I said that I'd made a decision a long time 
ago that if I was ever to have a family one day that I didn't want my 
child to have the example of me doing or thinking it's OK to do drugs 
of any kind whether it be regularly or even once in a blue moon.

If there are medical reasons a practicing, licensed physician deems 
pot viable for the use, that is another matter. I can't speak to that 
as I am not fully aware of those benefits. Other than that, I think 
it is just another excess that we as a society are putting out there.

Do you want to be considered the cool parent because you let underage 
drinking go on in your home?

If you are a pot-smoking adult, are you going to let your teens join 
you because the law has changed?

People who are high or buzzed cause fires because they are out of it, 
walk and get hit by cars, stumble and drown in puddles. I'm pretty 
sure they probably even get behind the wheel while high. Mr. White 
from Colorado doesn't seem to think that could be a problem.

Check out Safe Homes of Gloucester and the Healthy Gloucester 
Collaborative and get involved.

Donna Viau

East Gloucester
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