Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jun 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Mitch Earleywine
Page: A16
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n533/a05.html

THE MYTH OF THE GATEWAY DRUG

Thanks for reporting on the disparate levels of enforcement of 
marijuana laws across the country ["Entrenched in the war on weed," 
front page, June 22]. Police call marijuana a gateway to hard drugs, 
implying that their tough enforcement of prohibition prevents 
problems with harder drugs down the line. Research does not support this idea.

The vast majority of marijuana users have never even seen heroin or 
crack cocaine. A small subset of people develop problems with hard 
drugs, usually as a result of life stressors and a genetic 
predisposition to these troubles. Some of them use marijuana before 
they use hard drugs; many do not.

Enforcing harsh penalties against marijuana users does not prevent 
problems with hard drugs; it simply wastes the time of law 
enforcement officers, clogs our court systems and drains tax dollars 
that could be spent on proven prevention programs.

Mitch Earleywine, Albany, N.Y. The writer is chair of the executive 
board of NORML, which aims to reform marijuana laws.
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