Editor,
I would like to offer an opinion that I am pretty sure will not be well received, but I pray it will be published and considered. NM liberal lawmakers seem to be clamoring to climb on the pot legalization bandwagon, just like our ill fated neighbor to the north.
I would like to offer real world experience from our family in hopes that it will change hearts and minds in our state. Our son Travis began experimenting with pot in high school in little Cloudcroft. He was dating a girl who was already apparently a regular user. By age 24, he was trying to go to college at NMSU in Las Cruces.
He quickly dropped out of school and could not hold down even a minimum wage, entry level job. In September, 2011 he was found dead of a heroin overdose. When we received the toxicology results from the State Medical Examiner's office, his body contained not only lethal levels of heroin, but also high levels of THC.
We believe 100 percent that pot reduced or removed inhibitions that would normally have made him hesitant to use heroin. We mourn his loss to this day....he could have been a student at NMSU or UNM, but now he is gone.
Another aspect of our story is that my 57-year-old sister lives in Colorado where pot has already been legalized. She has just witnessed the end of a 32-year-marriage as her husband now does pot day in and day out, and has told her that is his focus in life.
He would not work, and acted at 57 years of age like a teenager. Please, please consider our very graphic examples of why legalizing pot is not the answer and will only serve to damage more students, individuals and marriages. I hope this brings pause and results in a real consideration of the absolute damage that will come to the families and individuals in our state.
Brad King
A lifelong resident of New Mexico
