Pot and other drugs are not good for kids. Period. I worked on a suicide hotline for a few years in Montreal. Drugs do bad things to people. Period. Saying it's otherwise doesn't make it otherwise.

We live in a world that gives Paxil, Prozac, etc., to children to alter their moods or behaviours. The drugs often just mask the problem. We let adults use the same drugs. The Rolling Stone's song, "Mother's Little Helper" was a reference to dexadrine (one of the amphetamine family), and lots of North Americans used it. I used Paxil for depression until it friggin' near killed me. Eight days of 10 mg/day and then on the second day of 20 mg/day, I went blind while driving on the highway. (Because I developed the habit years ago while driving ambulance of being aware of what's ahead, beside and behind me on any road, I knew I had the space/time to take my foot off the gas, "feel" for the shoulder, and glide to a stop.) Scared the crap outta me. I quit using it that day.

I know that drugs are not good for kids--and that includes grass. However, the drugs that have made me sickest have all been over-the-counter meds. Grass never made me go blind, lose my cool, look for stronger 'kicks'.

If it is legalized, I wouldn't care for it to be available for kids. I don't think I would go back to smoking. And I wouldn't want to enter an emergency situation with a fellow firefighter who had just toked up. But then, legality would have nothing to do with that, would it? I wouldn't want to enter ANY emergency situation with ANYONE who was CON (condition other than normal). It seems to me that legality/illegality is not the issue.

Bruce M