A reader writes:
One reason alcohol is so much harder to come by for teenagers - despite its greater public availability in supermarkets and convenience stores - is its sheer size. While you can stuff enough pot in your pocket to get a roomful of teenagers stoned, this simply isn't true with alcohol (especially beer). What this means is that the high school dealer is unlikely to go away if pot is legalized, and that with all the fancy new varieties increasingly available as a result of legalization, he may well be dealing in much more powerful stuff than I could ever hope to get my hands on when I was in high school.
The child psychiatrist writes:
I should say that the responders are probably right; legalization won't necessarily lead to more teenagers having access to pot, and may very well mean that fewer use it. It was hyperbole to write that. Here's a link to a nice little summary on the (largely unknown but trending positive) effects of decriminalization that some hard-working legislative aide in Connecticut put together.