Re: Protect individuals from themselves, March 5 edition.
In response to Eric Myrholm’s letter, I think it’s a mistake to believe that legalization of pot would increase its use.
The youth already have access to pot on nearly every street corner, pot often laced with toxic chemicals. Regulation would see the pot locked in cases next to the tobacco, where you would need photo ID to buy it. While I don’t endorse the use of any drug, it is immoral to criminalize users especially youth for experimenting with drugs.
The theory of “gateway drugs” is a flawed. One, because cocaine use came after pot, tobacco, coffee, and milk. So we’ll ban everything and wonder why it didn’t work, like the U.S. war on drugs. They spent billions of dollars on law enforcement that could have been spent on education, prevention and treatment of drug use.
And no, not everyone knows the problems with drugs. So educate your kids because what they see on TV is celebrities snorting coke, crashing sports cars, and doing drive by shootings! And guess what, kids think that lifestyle is cool.
Max Krawzik
Mission