Pubdate: Sat, 03 Sep 2016
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2016 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Authors: Mike Harris and Cindy Harris

LETTING ADULTS HAVE LEGAL POT KEEPS TEENS FROM GETTING IT

We understand why there are concerns about legalizing marijuana, but 
the fears are misplaced. There is a lot of misinformation.

People with a political agenda have been lying about cannabis for 
quite some time. Studies have shown cannabis is safer than alcohol 
and tobacco. Marijuana use has never been linked to cancer, and it is 
physically impossible to overdose.

The "gateway drug" myth is persuasive but untrue. Most hard drug 
users' first drug was alcohol or tobacco. While it is generally true 
that users of dangerous narcotics such as heroin and meth have used 
marijuana in the past, few who have tried marijuana go on to use hard drugs.

The only gateway effects are because people who buy marijuana must go 
to criminals to purchase it and because Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education has been teaching kids that pot is just as bad as heroin. 
When teens learn that they have been lied to about one drug, why 
would they trust us when it comes to the dangers of addictive and 
deadly drugs like meth or heroin?

Allowing adults, many of them productive and otherwise upstanding 
members of the community, to legally buy and use cannabis in the 
privacy of their own homes makes it harder for teens to get it.

Drug dealers don't card, and they often sell and push other drugs on 
their customers. State-licensed legal vendors of marijuana aren't 
going to have anything that isn't legal and pure.

We need to stop lying to our kids and punishing adults who aren't 
harming anyone, and bring more jobs to Alaska. Let's do all three by 
keeping cannabis legal for responsible adults.

- - Mike and Cindy Harris

Croy's Enterprise, LLC

Soldotna
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom