LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Drug crusaders need to do some basic research before opining about the dangers of marijuana.

They try to scare people with vague suggestions of a major disaster if cannabis is made legal for adult use. One thing is certain when drug warriors begin talking about marijuana ““ every word they say will be a lie, a deception or a distortion of some kind.

Some claim in “Legalizing pot may cause rise in crime” (Oct. 6) that marijuana will lead to increased drug-related crimes, especially on roadways. This assertion is contradicted by survey data.

Investigators at the University of Michigan reviewed the overall prevalence of drug-related emergency department visits among lifetime users of illicit substances.

Among those surveyed, subjects who reported using cannabis were the least likely to report an emergency department visit, at 1.71 percent.

“Marijuana was by far the most commonly used (illicit) drug, but individuals who used marijuana had a low prevalence of drug-related (emergency department) visits,” said the study, which was published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

And the peer reviewed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration studies prove that marijuana smokers are safer drivers than teetotalers. Evidence gathered in a 1992 study showed that “there was no indication that cannabis by itself was a cause of fatal crashes.”

It is worth mentioning that millions of marijuana users are already driving every day. If marijuana is a scourge on the roadways, where are the bodies? Where are the records of pot caused accidents?

Marijuana is the least toxic drug known to man. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. Since consuming such a quantity is impossible, there is no fatal dose for marijuana.

The reason police officers and prosecutors like marijuana prohibition is the money it puts in their pockets every year. Overtime pay for marijuana raids, pay for marijuana court appearances and shares of confiscated property put a substantial amount of cash into their pay checks.

Justice has nothing to do with it. They’re in it for the money.

Ralph Givens
Daly City

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