Pubdate: Tue, 24 Sep 2002
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Robert Sharpe

MEDICINAL POT ALLEVIATES SUFFERING (1 OF 3)

Re "Parents Warned on Pot's Toll," Sept. 18: The core message of drug czar 
John Walters is certainly worth heeding, but he risks losing credibility by 
deliberately misrepresenting government data. According to the drug czar, 
more teens are in treatment for marijuana than alcohol and all illegal 
drugs combined. Record numbers of Americans arrested for marijuana 
possession have been forced into treatment by the criminal justice system. 
The resulting distortion of treatment statistics is then used by the drug 
czar to make the claim that marijuana is "addictive."

There is a big difference between voluntary treatment and government 
coercion. Zero-tolerance drug laws do not distinguish between occasional 
use and chronic abuse. The coercion of Americans who prefer marijuana to 
martinis into taxpayer-funded treatment centers says a lot about government 
priorities but absolutely nothing about the relative harms of marijuana.

Robert Sharpe
Program Officer
Drug Policy Alliance
Washington
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MAP posted-by: Beth