[420 Girl]

Jonathan Troutman makes several erroneous statements in his op-ed, essentially spouting the same myths the government has been making since cannabis ( marijuana ) was banned in the 1930s.

For instance, Troutman says, "Legalization of marijuana will create more drug-dependent users and increase accessibility to the youth."

Actually, cannabis has little potential for dependence, what little does exist is mostly psychological. The "gateway effect" has been repeatedly proved false.

Studies dating to the Indian Hemp Commission of the late 19th century and including government studies - the Panama Canal Zone Military Investigations ( 1929 ), The LaGuardia Committee Report ( 1944 ), the Shafer Commission ( 1972 ), the NAS Committee on Substance Abuse and Habitual Behavior ( 1982 ), the DEA's Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis Young's 1988 ruling and the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report - concluded that at the least cannabis should be decriminalized.

The point Mr. Troutman ignores is that harms are relative and cannabis, as stated by Judge Young said, "is one of the safest therapeutic substances known to man."

Leaving cannabis a prohibited substance makes it easier for youth to acquire, not more difficult ( what happens when a liquor store gets caught selling to minors? ). Education and legalization, not arrest and prison, is the proper and effective deterrent for keeping our kids away from drugs.

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