Pubdate: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2012 Doug Munro Contact: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Doug Munro Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n238/a08.html POT ARGUMENT UNCONVINCING Re: "Legalize marijuana," by Robert Sharpe, Letters, April 24. I read with disbelief the letter from Robert Sharpe, a policy analyst with the Washington, D.C., group Common Sense for Drug Policy. Sharpe displayed anything but common sense in his reasoning for the legalization of marijuana and the expansion of heroin maintenance. The suggestion that legalizing marijuana will prevent its users from coming into contact with "hard drugs" and moving up the drug addiction ladder is nonsense. Sharpe attempts to sell us on the harmlessness of marijuana, then in his next sentence takes his cue straight from the 1930s anti-marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness by suggesting that marijuana, and its prohibition, is the "gateway" to hard drug use. Sharpe also suggests that expanding the heroin maintenance program would render heroin trafficking unprofitable and "spare future generations addiction." Based on this logic, I am surprised he did not suggest that society simply provide citizens with the drug of their choice, thus eliminating all illegal drug trafficking. Doug Munro, Edmonton - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D