Alcohol is the real gateway drug

In George Will’s Oct. 29 syndicated column he quoted Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske’s answer when asked if he thinks marijuana is a gateway drug. Kerlikowske said, “You don’t find many heroin users who didn’t start with marijuana.”

I wonder how many started with alcohol? Just as many — probably many more, I bet.

There are other things to consider regarding this issue, as well.

How many people die each year of alcohol overdoses? Tens of thousands. How many people die each year of marijuana overdoses? Zero. (They fall asleep long before that can happen.)

Which of the two is the most dangerous drug?

— John Tuttle, Seattle

Marijuana use doesn’t cause deaths?

I read with interest how the Washington state Legislature recently approved a law allowing small craft alcohol distilleries to operate in Washington, allowing citizens to produce up to 20,000 gallons of intoxicating spirits per year [“Former engineer to produce vodka,” NWMonday,” Oct. 26].

Alcohol use is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, killing as many as 85,000 Americans per year, not counting car accidents or alcohol-related violence.

Marijuana, however, has not been blamed for a single death from overdose or toxic reaction after more than 5,000 years of use.

Why can Washington citizens produce one of the deadliest drugs around for profit, when in some counties the sick and dying are still being prosecuted for growing the medical marijuana they need to manage the ravaging effects of their disease?

Where are our public-health priorities?

The hypocrisy is so thick you could not cut it with a chain saw.

— Vivian McPeak, Seattle