MARIJUANA PANIC

Re "Dope alarm," editorial, May 12: The increase in emergency room visits by "young pot smokers" has primarily shown that THC can induce panic attacks in susceptible individuals, a fact which has been well known for years.  Perhaps the most important and most often overlooked fact to note is that none of these "young pot smokers" died from a THC overdose.With tens of thousands of people, including children, dying each year from alcohol-related accidents, illnesses and crimes, and hundreds of thousands dying from tobacco related illness each year, a discussion about the dangers of the escalating THC content of marijuana is laughable.

Marijuana is not a harmless drug, but it's certainly safer than the two most popular and destructive drugs in the history of mankind - alcohol and tobacco.  Only a fool would argue otherwise.

Joseph McGhee, Sacramento