Pubdate: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 Source: USA Today (US) Copyright: 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc Contact: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466 Author: Robert Sharpe Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone) Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n763/a07.html TIME TO RETHINK DRUG-WAR PRIORITIES As a parent of two young children, I found the article "Prescription drugs find place in teen culture" to be very disturbing (Cover story, News, Tuesday). I have to wonder whether the perception that pharmaceutical drugs are safer is a direct result of the federal government's "reefer madness revisited" anti-drug campaign. While organic marijuana is demonized at taxpayers' expense, more and more kids are taking potentially deadly pharmaceuticals, including synthetic heroin. Has pot ever been shown to cause an overdose death? Certainly, the makers of aspirin or distributors of alcoholic beverages can't make such a claim. Marijuana is arguably the safest recreational drug available, legal or otherwise. The war on marijuana is part of a larger culture war that should have ended with the Vietnam War. If kids are finding it easier to purchase prescription OxyContin than marijuana, perhaps the federal government needs to rethink its drug-war priorities. Robert Sharpe Arlington, Va. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman