Pubdate: Tue, 18 Nov 2003
Source: Camrose Booster, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003 The Camrose Booster
Contact:  http://www.camrosebooster.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2438
Author: Liesl Schulte

BOTHERED BY CANADIAN GOVERNMENT LOOKING INTO LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Dear Editor:

I am a fifteen-year-old student here in Camrose. I am bothered by the fact 
that the Canadian government is looking into legalizing marijuana. I hope 
that our legislators will reject legalizing this so-called "harmless" drug.

As a youth, I hear that marijuana use is no longer a "big deal," that 
"everybody's doing it." a former classmate of mine - beautiful, 
intelligent, athletic - started using marijuana in eighth grade. Before 
long, it didn't get her "high" enough and she started using hard-core 
drugs, ending up hurting others and herself physically and emotionally. I 
regret not letting her know I cared about her and now I've lost that chance.

A lot of teens begin experimenting with pot, then "graduate" to mushrooms, 
hash and heroine. These aren't drugs that just give you a "high"; these are 
drugs that kill. As a society, don't you want to protect your youth? If you 
want us to have a safe future, do not support the legalization of marijuana.

Fortunately, I have friends and family support to keep me from getting into 
even the most harmless drugs. Not everyone has the amazing friends I have 
or the moral support of a good family. Some youth feel unloved, unwanted, 
and want to fit in. If it takes doing drugs to forget these problems, 
they'll do them. The "high" from drugs wears off though, and the problems 
are still there.

I know that people who are ill would like the legalization of marijuana to 
deal with pain, but we have to face the reality that suffering is part of 
life and that one day we will all die. For those with physical pain, there 
are alternatives to marijuana. Can they not see that millions of youth may 
suffer because of their plea for legalization?

Depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances are all associated with 
marijuana use. Research has shown that marijuana use has potential to cause 
problems in daily life or make a person's existing problems worse. Because 
marijuana compromises the ability to learn and remember information, the 
more a person uses marijuana the more he or she is likely to fall behind in 
gaining intellectual, job or social skills. Marijuana's adverse impact on 
memory and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of 
the drug wear off.

Don't stand by and watch the world fall into drug abuse because one drug is 
so "harmless." I've seen what it does to people, and I'm sorry that I never 
had the chance to say good-bye.

Liesl Schulte
Camrose 
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