Pubdate: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 Source: Alestle, The (IL Edu) Copyright: 2010 Stan White Contact: http://www.alestlelive.com/home/lettertotheeditor/ Website: http://www.thealestle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3957 Author: Stan White CANNABIS PROHIBITION DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD Not only is the gateway theory discredited by government studies, cannabis (marijuana) prohibition causes increased hard drug addiction rates. Responsible adults who use the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis often purchase it from people who also sell other substances including hard drugs, which increases the likelihood of hard drug addiction rates. Re-legalizing cannabis will eliminate that gateway effect. Another reason cannabis prohibition increases hard drug addiction rates is DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) telling lies, half-truths and propaganda regarding the plant. How many people heard DARE say cannabis was very bad and then realized it's not nearly as bad as claimed and think other substances must not be so bad either only to become addicted to honest hard drugs? Another reason to stop caging citizens for using cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is biblically correct since Christ God Our Father, The Ecologician, indicates He created all the seed bearing plants saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it be accepted with thankfulness (see 1 Timothy 4:1-5). Cannabis prohibition harms children and adults. It also causes murder, violence, lost taxes, hemp prohibition, wastes valuable limited law enforcement resources, misuses the incarceration system, leads citizens to drink more alcohol, insures unregulated cultivation, causes contempt for laws and government and erodes the Constitution, etc. Legalizing cannabis is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D