Pubdate: Tue, 04 Oct 2005
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Copyright: 2005 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Carl Tuzroyluke

BANNING MARIJUANA JUST TEMPTS KIDS TO USE MORE DANGEROUS DRUGS

The ban on marijuana is turning today's youth into junkies and crack
heads. If you were to observe the interests of young people in
Anchorage and around the state, you would realize that it is in the
interest of each generation to experiment, which sometimes means
trying illicit drugs and alcohol. Yet the ban on marijuana is not only
denying many terminally ill patients a much needed medication, it is
making illicit drugs more readily available to individuals seeking to
get high.

Ask yourself this one thing: Would you rather your teenage offspring
be smoking weed or using OxyContin? It's a highly addictive, legal
pain medication which is destroying the lives of those who choose to
abuse it. Without realizing the effects, soon your teenager could be
robbing and stealing to get a "fix" and having permanently damaged the
selective serotonin levels of their once happy minds to a point where
the feeling of happiness is associated with a little blue pill instead
of sunshine and fresh air.

Look at what happened to Hawaii when the ban on marijuana made "ice"
rampant in paradise. Do we really want an entire generation getting
hooked on bathtub-mixed chemicals, or good old-fashioned Alaskan homegrown?

The choice is yours. Prohibition didn't work in the 20th century; I
doubt it will work today.

Carl Tuzroyluke

Anchorage
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