For the record, I have never used any recreational narcotics. I don't plan on using them at any time in the future.

William Bennett, head of the "Drug War" under the Bush administration, is the author of an interesting essay entitled "Should Drugs Be Legalized?"

In it, he states how legalizers say legalizing "drugs" will eliminate a black market. He refutes this by saying that PCP and Cocaine could never be legalized. I agree with his assessment.

He later goes on to say how much he hates what PCP and Cocaine does to people: more severely violent crime and Crack Babies. I also hate this.

But then Bennett contradicts himself by saying that "drugs" shouldn't be legalized because of these PCP and Cocaine related narcotics, which he already said wouldn't be legalized anyway. His irrationality was more than an annoyance, because I began realizing just how messed-up the "Drug War" is. In fact, I would submit to you that the "Drug War" has been responsible for many deaths.

Saying that marijuana inherently leads to other "drugs" is simply illogical. Marijuana is a compound that has no ability to reprogram one's brain into trying "harder drugs".

The latest studies on this compound have found that the resulting prolonged euphoria usually does not cause permanent 'endorphine release mechanism' damage unless it is smoked over a very long time. Even the average "stoner", if he quit for a time, would be normal in a few weeks after the high levels of fat stored euphoria chemicals eventually left the body.

The coordination problems associated with marijuana are not much more severe than when drunk.

Marijuana also contains no known addicting chemical, unlike tobacco, which has nicotine. Some people can even become addicted to alcohol. Their body chemistry becomes dependent on it. The most that can be said of marijuana is that it can become a "psychological addiction", jargon for liking something too much to not want to do it again.

Marijuana also tends to be only a little less clean burning than many tobacco products, including cigars. Tar and Carbon Monoxide levels are actually comparable to some foreign brands of cigarettes.

When a young person begins understanding this, whether through education or experimentation, they realize the lie which has been perpetuated by the "Drug War".

It's a natural human tendency if someone has not been truthful once, to assume that other things they've said might also be false. Thus, without someone to set a marijuana user strait that the "Drug War" is only partially wrong, this person is able to logically assume that "harder drugs" might not be as bad as they are made out to be. If they try them, the resulting addictions would be unavoidable. They could even die from a cocaine or heroin overdose.

This is the legacy of the current "Drug War" and the irrational people that head it; the same people who use emotionally inflammatory remarks to rally the equally irrational "Anti-Drugs" Mob.