Pubdate: Wed, 03 May 2000 Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC) Copyright: 2000 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal Contact: http://www.goupstate.com/ Author: Crystal Scherer KEEP MARIJUANA ILLEGAL I would like to address the issue of legalization of marijuana. As a teen-ager, I have witnessed the affects that marijuana has on its users. Marijuana is an addictive drug that causes short-term and long-term complications. To legalize marijuana would be decreasing the value of morality in our country. One may argue that legalization would decrease the number of people who abuse it, but I disagree. If marijuana is more easily accessible, I feel that it would be used as commonly and as regularly as tobacco products. Others argue that marijuana should be legalized to ease the pain of cancer patients. I disagree with this also, because marijuana has been proven to cause cancer, so why offer cancer patients a drug that may possibly complicate their illness even further? I think the government should try new ways of banning marijuana instead of letting it fall more easily into the hands of American citizens. Crystal Scherer - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea