Pubdate: Thu, 13 Oct 2011
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Norman J. Harris
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: Norman J. Harris

POT A GATEWAY TO WHAT?

Marijuana is called a gateway drug, an accusation never 
scientifically confirmed, suggesting the use of pot inevitably leads 
users toward more addictive substances. Illegal pot only links users 
to criminals promoting more addictive illegal substances ["Incidents 
cited to show pot dangers," Local, Oct. 11].

If marijuana is a gateway, it's in exactly the sense described by the 
historian Ken Burns in the TV series Prohibition and portrayed in the 
TV series Boardwalk Empire. As with alcohol in the 1920s, illegal 
marijuana is a gateway to a society in contempt of law and a world in 
which public officials become targets for large-scale corruption.

The coalition against ending of prohibition of alcohol, the criminals 
and well-meaning clergy, sound the same today as then. Prohibition 
ended because of the appeal of tax revenues from legal sales and law 
enforcement economies during a Depression. Aren't we there now?

Norman J. Harris M.D.

TUSTIN
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom