Pubdate: Tue, 27 Dec 2005
Source: Edson Leader (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Edson Leader
Contact:  http://www.edsonleader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/780
Author: Anthony Jensen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

POT PROPAGANDA MISLEADS CHILDREN

To the Editor:

Re: Writer has his facts wrong

The person who has serious fact problems is you Mrs. (Joyce) Roth. I 
never wrote one word about that wonderful poem. Best read my letter again.

Writing the Leader and trying to claim I have no facts, when your own 
facts about what I have written is so far off, you should be embarrassed.

My point in my letter, was that using a ghost writer and an unnamed 
person in a oddly written story about such a important subject that 
effects your community is counterproductive. Such the same as 
propaganda is used everyday in the news to make children think cannabis is bad.

Then children try it and see it's really not that bad ... so then 
they think to themselves, well if they lied about cannabis they must 
be lying about meth

If you got from my letter that I am not concerned about meth use, 
again you're not reading properly. I am more aware of the problem 
then you think.

The gateway theory is now debunked, and they call it a stepping-stone 
theory. My facts come from the Report of the Senate Special Committee 
on Illegal Drugs and it says, "Theory suggesting a sequential pattern 
in involvement in drug use from nicotine to alcohol, to cannabis and 
then hard drugs. The theory rests on a statistical association 
between the use of hard drugs and the fact that these users have 
generally used cannabis as their first illicit drug. This theory has 
not been validated by empirical research and is considered outdated."

The senate report is available to anyone who wants it, just write the 
Senate and they would be happy to send one out. You could also go to 
the Internet and look for this study.

Cannabis use, a stepping stone to other drugs?

There are the cases of Amsterdam's Peter Cohen and Arjan Sas. I could 
go on and on but that's too long for a LTE. Another important fact is 
as long as cannabis is illegal, you will feed organized crime. And 
they bring these other drugs into the lives of your children. I would 
suggest you get on the Internet Mrs. Roth and many others and Google 
yourself some real facts.

Anthony Jensen

Vancouver, B.C.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman