The other day a 14-year-old Port Angeles girl died after drinking large
quantities of vodka.
(Herald
1/20/99)
She was one of three girls of the same age that were reported to have
died that day.
(I heard a radio news report about two others back east somewhere)
Last March a 17 year old girl in Auburn died of acute
alcohol poisoning. Her mother found her comatose in her bedroom. In June
of 97 a 14 year old Anacortes girl drank
herself to death. This is only a short list of news stories that I found
online. I'm quite certain there were many more acute alcohol poisonings
involving young people that didn't make the paper.
Yet in over 8,000 years, no teenager has ever died from an overdose of marijuana.
Teenagers really should not use drugs- legal or otherwise. But they often
do. The fact is that our society gives our teens extremely mixed messages
about drugs.
(attention parents: ALCOHOL IS A DRUG!)
don't
worry mom I'll be safe
Just listen to what a conservative, Reagan appointed judge has to say about this:
"I am skeptical that a society that is so tolerant of alcohol and cigarettes should come
down so hard on marijuana use and send people to prison for life without parole...We
should not repeal all the drug laws overnight, but we should begin
with
marijuana and see whether the sky
falls."
--Richard Posner, Chief Judge of the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
I WROTE THIS LETTER TO THE EDITOR ABOUT A MONTH BEFORE THIS HAPPENED IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD: