Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jun 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Pamela Lichty
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n344/a07.html

DISPENSARY CRITICS SORELY MISINFORMED

Joann Breeden's letter is both misinformed and misleading ("Legal pot 
will lead to more addiction," Star-Advertiser, June 25).

The pending legislation does not legalize marijuana. It sets up a 
tightly regulated dispensary system designed to undercut the black 
market while providing registered patients with medicine their 
doctors recommend.

Marijuana doesn't "stop working"; unlike hard drugs, it doesn't 
create a tolerance in users.

Of course drug users start with marijuana; it's the most widely used 
psychoactive substance in the world after alcohol.

The crimes that she attributes to drug use are instead linked to the 
failed war on drugs and turf battles and ripoffs that arise from that.

Most important, the "gateway theory" that marijuana will lead to the 
use of harder drugs was discredited back in 1997 by the federal 
Institute of Medicine.

We agree that the people of Hawaii need education on all aspects of 
marijuana. But it should be based on scientific evidence and 
research, not on sensationalized and inaccurate assertions.

Pamela Lichty Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom