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The Daily News of Los Angeles
January 10, 1997, Friday, VALLEY EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. N24

PUBLIC FORUM; PROP. 215 PROPONENTS REVEAL TRUE AGENDA

It's interesting that Proposition 215 proponents are now revealing their hand.

''We only want marijuana for the sick and dying,'' they say, but Proposition 215 makes pot available to anyone with a doctor's ''verbal recommendation.''

''This is not about legalization,'' they say, but the initiative allows people to cultivate marijuana. To avoid arrest, they need only claim they're growing it for someone who's sick.

''Crime continues to go up,'' they say, as the nation's crime rate plummets to the lowest levels since the 1960s.

''The 'drug war' failed,'' they say, as past-month drug use fell among teen-agers and young adults by two-thirds between 1979 and 1992.

Now that they got what they wanted, proponents give the same advice they gave in the '70s when they advocated decriminalization and drug use reached the highest levels in history - from 2 percent of the population in 1962 to 35 percent of teen-agers and 70 percent of young adults in 1979.

''Teach kids to use drugs responsibly,'' proponents advise in California op-ed pieces, as adolescent drug use doubles after a 13-year decline.

''Marijuana is not as harmful as alcohol,'' they assert, as young people's belief that marijuana can hurt them falls and their use of the drug heads up to the levels of the '70s.

Some in California may not understand why the Clinton administration is rejecting Proposition 215, but those of us who do are profoundly grateful.

Sue Rusche
Executive Director
National Families in Action
Atlanta