These debates in the US Today regarding legalization of marijuana are interesting.

To be completely and adequately answered as regards the safety of the public, the right people need to be interviewed and the right stats need to be reviewed.

Safety is relevant here and the number of persons who went on to abuse other drugs would be completely applicable.

An interview with enough people now abusing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or other drugs would tell the story.

I take issue with physician Bob Blake when he says marijuana is a safer alternative to morphine, OxyContin and other conventional painkillers (”Medical pot sales booming,” News, Wednesday).

I have struggled with an addiction to marijuana for the better part of 30 years. I reside in Maine, where a bill to revise our state’s medical marijuana law will be up for a vote in November. Blake’s comment is the kind of irresponsible one that leads poorly informed voters to make bad decisions.

I have witnessed many families, in which the children spend the entire day in front of the television because mommy and daddy are in a stoned haze. Those who disagree with me say that’s just a few and isn’t a reason to deprive everyone. The sad part is that those children will likely become their parents with their children also sitting in front

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The emotional hysteria generated by any reference to marijuana usage (illicit or medically authorized) is a fascinating psychological-sociological phenomenon throughout the U.S. This exaggerated reaction can be traced back to the 1930s when Harry Anslinger, the head of the federal drug agency at the time, spent a lot of effort castigating marijuana usage. It is truly amazing that this perception lingers today.

In almost a half-century of forensic pathology practice, having performed 17,000 autopsies, I have never attributed a death directly to a marijuana overdose. I have reviewed more than twice that number of cases signed out by other forensic pathologists in other jurisdictions, and I have never seen a death certificate listing marijuana overdose as the cause of death.

“Acute combined drug toxicity” is a growing cause of death in our country, not limited to celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith or Michael Jackson. It is my fervent hope that the federal and state agencies charged with the responsibility of controlling the improper use of drugs and chemical compounds will deem it necessary to concentrate on this kind of drug abuse, with at least the same level of passion that they have used in trying to prevent patients from receiving.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/10/letters-marijuana-use-holds-risks-such-as-drug-addiction-.html