It’s unfortunate that the Houston Press (‘Reefer Madness’, July 9-16) allowed DARE apologist and apparatchik Sgt. Fletcher to libel NORML. Sgt. Fletcher, flailing in his defense of the most expensive and oft criticized government education program of the last decade is quoted as saying, "There are also organizations, such as NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), that have made efforts to criticize DARE because of it’s very clear message: ‘Don’t Use Drugs.’ They Don’t like the message; they want kids to use drugs recreationally."

This quote is straight up libel. For twenty-eight years, NORML has responsibly advocated that laws and mores for responsible cannabis use be treated in the same manner that American society has developed for alcohol, meaning, a strong message of abstinence for youth consumption and effective civil and criminal deterrence of irresponsible use or abuse.

Nowhere in NORML’s extensive archives and it’s popular homepage (www.norml.org), does NORML advocate or encourage adults to use cannabis—let alone children. In fact, in the early 1970s NORML likely coined the term "growing up drug-free". If Sgt. Fletcher had taken the time to educate himself about NORML’s position regarding children and cannabis use, rather than libel NORML, he would have discovered that NORML has one of the most straightforward and understandable abstinent messages found in America.

At NORML, we believe that adults who use cannabis, like those who drink alcohol, have a responsibility to behave appropriately and to assure that their recreational drug use is conducted in a responsible manner. Neither cannabis or alcohol consumption is ever an excuse for misconduct of any kind, and both smokers and drinkers must be held to the same standard as all Americans.

The NORML Board of Directors, in 1995, issued the following statement entitled "Principles of Responsible Marijuana Use," which defines the conduct which we believe any responsible adult cannabis smoker should follow:

I. ADULTS ONLY

Marijuana consumption is for adults only. It is irresponsible to provide cannabis to children. Many things and activities are suitable for young people, but others absolutely are not. Children do not drive cars, enter into contracts, or marry, and they must not use drugs. As it is unrealistic to demand lifetime abstinence from cars, contracts and marriage, however, it is unrealistic to expect lifetime abstinence from all intoxicants, including alcohol. Rather, our expectation and hope for young people is that they grow up to be responsible adults. Our obligation to them is to demonstrate what that means.

II. NO DRIVING

The responsible marijuana consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery impaired by marijuana, nor impaired by any other substance or condition, including some medicines and fatigue. Although marijuana is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, responsible marijuana consumers never operate motor vehicles in an impaired condition. Public safety demands not only that impaired drivers be taken off the road, but that objective measures of impairment be developed and used, rather than chemical testing.

III. SET AND SETTING

The responsible marijuana user will carefully consider his/her set and setting, regulating use accordingly. "Set" refers to the consumer’s values, attitudes, experience and personality, and "setting" means the consumer’s physical and social circumstances. The responsible cannabis consumer will be vigilant as to conditions—time, place, mood, etc.—and does not hesitate to say "no" when those conditions are not conducive to a safe, pleasant and/or productive experience.

IV. RESIST ABUSE

Use of marijuana, to the extent that it impairs health, personal development or achievement, is abuse, to be resisted by responsible cannabis users. Abuse means harm. Some marijuana use is harmful; most is not. That which is harmful should be discouraged; that which is not need not be. Wars have been waged in the name of eradicating "drug abuse", but instead of focusing on abuse, enforcement measures have been diluted by targeting all drug use, whether abusive or not. If marijuana abuse is to be targeted, it is essential that clear standards be developed to identify it.

V. RESPECT RIGHTS OF OTHERS

The responsible marijuana user does not violate the rights of others, observes accepted standards of courtesy and public propriety, and respects the preferences of those who wish to avoid marijuana entirely. No one may violate the rights of others, and no substance use excuses any such violation. Regardless of the legal status of marijuana, responsible users will adhere to emerging tobacco smoking protocols in public and private places.

Clearly, NORML’s position is quite the opposite of encouraging "children to use drugs recreationally." Beyond taking Sgt. Fletcher to task on his incorrect and misleading depiction of NORML’s stated policy, any half-witted taxpayer has plenty to loathe regarding this failed, federally funded education program.

Mr. Coleman aptly points out many of the flaws that can be found in DARE’s "feel good" approach to drug education as well as the alluded to ‘sacred cow’ status the program currently enjoys at both the local and federal level.

There’s high irony to be sure for "a self described, knee-jerk conservative, [like] Councilman Rob Todd" voting to continue the finance of a program that has received near universal demerits for its lack of effectiveness and more disturbingly, troubling accounts on the information gathering techniques employed by some DARE officers to arrest family members of the very school children they are trusted to educate.

DARE looks more like an old, soviet style propaganda campaign than a modern, fact based educational program. By the way, the demerits are not given out by NORML and other reform minded organizations, but by government funded study...after study. One has to wonder how many other thoroughly discredited taxpayer funded programs supposedly conservative politicians like Mr. Todd support? Mr. Todd et al might take stock in what dyed-in-the-wool conservatives William F. Buckley, George Schultz and Milton Friedman have called the "Vietnamization" of America’s longest and most costly war—the war on some drugs.

Mr. Todd and his fellow blind supporters of DARE might want take note that the largest drop in teenagers’ willingness to admit to cannabis use was between 1979-1984, before the DARE boondoggle was even a glimmer in the eye of wasteful, "feel good" politicians and ever-growing Washington ‘drug war’ bureaucracies. As Mr. Coleman noted, the more money allocated to DARE the higher the rate of admittance of cannabis use by ‘the children of DARE’.

Talk about high irony.