Marijuana is not a gateway drug

By Michael Burwell Weymouth, 10/11/97

In her Sept. 22 column, ''Some words go up in smoke,'' Patricia Smith
bemoans the Marijuana Freedom Rally's high popularity with teenagers versus
their virtual snubbing of the Sober Day Festival both of which took place
on Sept. 20. Well, when given a choice, I say most people prefer to go hear
the truth. So the kids are alright.

Smith turns her platform over to the queen of the Sober Day Fest, Boston
drug czar Kattie Portis. Portis first declares that marijuana is a gateway
drug to harder drugs because, ''after a while ... it doesn't do the job
anymore.'' But then she warns that pot is also ''just as addictive as
anything else.''

This is scientifically untrue. The column should have had the headline:
''More smoke with mirrors.''