Pubdate: Tue, 20 May 2003
Source: Canadian Champion, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2003 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing Ltd
Contact:  http://www.haltonsearch.com/hr/mcc/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1503
Author: Dr. Christopher Eriksson

DOCTOR SAYS DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD BE A STRIKE AGAINST HEALTH AND 
WELL BEING OF OUR COUNTRY'S CHILDREN

(The following letter was addressed to Halton MP Julian Reed and a copy was 
filed with The Champion.)

Dear Editor: This letter is in response to Halton MP Julian Reed's January 
20 letter about his government's proposal to decriminalize marijuana.

The ill effects of smoking modern marijuana have multiplied over the last 
30 to 40 years, as today's marijuana is about 25 times more potent than it 
was in the 1960s. Marijuana use contributes significantly to motor vehicle 
crashes. It slows reaction time and decreases the ability to judge distance 
and time. It worsens short-term memory, learning, and attention span.

Perhaps the worst consequence is that teenagers who use marijuana have been 
found to be about 100 times more likely to use cocaine than those who've 
never smoked marijuana -- hence its description as a gateway drug which is 
the generally accepted viewpoint of police officers and others directly 
involved with these teenagers.

Excessive alcohol consumption and regular tobacco use are two of the known 
risk factors for the development of modern chronic illnesses such as 
hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

With much higher concentrations of lung contaminants, smoking marijuana 
will significantly add to the risk for the development of these chronic 
conditions in our teenagers, in addition to the ill effects listed above.

We know that up to 70 per cent of modern illnesses and their associated 
costs in North America are lifestyle-related, and therefore preventable. 
This is why Health Canada and the provincial governments are trying to 
reduce these same risk factors to promote improved health in Canadians.

If your goal and that of the Canadian government is to make it legal for 
some patients to receive marijuana as a medicine, then create appropriate 
outlets where these medical prescriptions can be legally filled.

Decriminalizing marijuana will also severely compromise the efforts of our 
treatment and rehabilitation institutions. And this at a time when 
"punk-offs" or teenage street robberies are escalating and the judicial 
system is increasingly sending these youth to such centres to get the help 
they need.

Let us pass laws in Canada that promote health and wellness in our children 
and future citizens, and not the reverse. Teenagers should be helped to say 
no to drugs and of course to say no to smoking cigarettes and no to alcohol 
abuse, and not encouraged to use them.

Being a teenager is hard enough without pushing them toward 
experimentation, drug use, drug abuse, drug addiction and crime.

Rewards and incentives as well as deterrents can play an effective role 
here, as they also can in counteracting the risk factors for the modern 
chronic illnesses that are lifestyle related.

Dr. Christopher Eriksson, CEO

The Art of Healthy Living Inc.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom