Pubdate: Sun, 07 May 2000
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2000 The Calgary Sun
Contact:  2615 12 Street N.E., Calgary, Alberta T2E 7W9
Fax: (403) 250-4180
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/
Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author: Robert Sharpe
Note: Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor; headline by MAP editor
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n587/a03.html

KIDS HAVE AN EASIER TIME PURCHASING MARIJUANA THAN BEER

RE: "TICKET pot smokers to keep courts clear," May 2. Alberta's justice 
minister is right about marijuana introducing users to harder drugs. That's 
precisely why it should be legalized. If marijuana had been legalized in 
the 1970s, the crack epidemic of the '80s would have never happened. As the 
most popular illicit drug, marijuana provides the black market connections 
that introduce drug users to harder drugs. Current drug policy is, in 
effect, a gateway drug policy. Marijuana's black market status puts users 
in contact with unscrupulous individuals who push hard drugs. Equally 
disturbing is the manner in which children have an easier time purchasing 
marijuana than beer.

Robert Sharpe, Students for Sensible Drug Policy

(It's a stretch to say that legalizing pot would have stopped the crack habit.)
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D