Pubdate: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 Source: Contra Costa Times (CA) Copyright: 2010 Bay Area News Group Contact: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96 Author: Pauline Walton WILL CAUSE CRIME Gavin Newsom practically has made criminals out of cigarette smoking in San Francisco. Yet he seems determined to permeate all of California with marijuana. As a recovering alcoholic (commendable) I wonder what his recreational drug is now? Legalizing marijuana will increase crime, law enforcement says. Just as we have addiction to alcohol, addiction to pot will follow. If you have little money, crime will follow. For years the media and politicians have believed that if you blitz the population often enough with their superior knowledge, then we fools will become "educated" enough to legalize pot. Numerous articles say how dangerous the use of pot is for teenagers whose brains are not yet fully developed. We know use of the drug is widespread among them -- even some younger. For those who use it to escape depression, it increases depression. Suicide rates increase by 40 percent among adults who used pot as a teenager. Today's marijuana is twice as strong as it was 20 years ago. Pauline Walton Lafayette - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart