Pubdate: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 Source: North Thompson Star/Journal (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Black Press Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/i4mAe7d5 Website: http://www.starjournal.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1231 Author: Laura Kelsey Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) THE REAL GATEWAY DRUGS There was a sudden point in high school when a good chunk of my classmates were doing drugs. It was almost that clear cut, too: one day, they were sober; the next, hepped up on speed. What caused this change, this possibly life-altering decision by so many young people? Prior to the drugs, many of them were good students and just plain nice kids; but they were slowly becoming skinny, lesioned shadows of their former selves. Oh, there was something I left out: these kids smoked pot. Parents, believing marijuana had opened the door to the world of debauchery and disgusting hard drug use, blamed weed for their sickly, methamphetamine-addicted children. More common in the USA than in Canada (Canada more known for it's less severe view of the plant's recreational use), many believe marijuana to be a gateway drug. Websites like www.marijuanaaddiction.info profess marijuana addiction is a growing problem: "Marijuana addiction is a phenomenon experienced by more than 150,000 individuals each year who enter treatment for their proclaimed addiction to marijuana." Many of my school chums went from pot to LSD to cocaine and speed - some, eventually, gravitating to heroin. So, in this case, pot would appear to be the culprit: the teens, 15 to 17, started with pot and then wanted something more, venturing to the "next step up." But, going back a few years, one would see something else; at 12 and 13 years old, many of these kids were "experimenting" with alcohol and cigarettes, deemed acceptable by society and, therefore, viewed as harmless by the teens - perhaps even borrowing the goods from mom and dad. Things escalated from smokes and drinks. So what are the real gateway drugs? What do you think about marijuana decriminalization? How come the States hates pot so much while we north of 60 possess such lax attitudes toward the green ganja? I don't have the answers to these questions but I do know how frustrating it can be when living in the vicinity of a grow-op; close relatives of mine were recently threatened by fire when their next door neighbours' home grow-op burst into flames. When passer-bys noticed the smoke, the renters were alerted; without a word of thanks, the man of the home grabbed his young family and drove off. Weeks later, the family - who was imported from another country by who knows who - is back in the home, free, it would seem, from any punishment; meanwhile, my relatives are always on alert in their own home, building high fences and watching the value of their house drop. I'm not touting decriminalization and I'm not placing blame; but it's obvious something needs to be done. Whether the justice system wages an all-out war on weed or decides it's time to drop the laws against toking, anything is better than the leafy limbo we are currently in. The argument could be made that if people can currently alter their minds and bodies with legal, sometimes lethal, means, than what's the addition of a little plant? On the other hand, where would decriminalization end? Will there come a day when kids can buy syringes with their 10-cent candies at the corner store? - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake