Pubdate: Tue, 08 Oct 2002 Source: Mobile Register (AL) Copyright: 2002 Mobile Register. Contact: http://www.al.com/mobileregister/today/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/269 Author: Robert Sharpe DATA MISREPRESENTED BY THE DRUG CZAR Regarding the Sept. 23 editorial titled "New ad campaign gives straight dope on marijuana," I'm afraid the Mobile Register has been misled. According to drug czar John Walters, more teens are in treatment for marijuana than for alcohol and all illegal drugs combined. The drug czar is deliberately misrepresenting government data in an effort to justify the war on some drugs. The federal government's reefer madness revisited campaign comes just months before Arizona and Nevada are set to vote on ballot initiatives that would decriminalize marijuana. 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. For a more objective take on marijuana, look to the Canadian Senate. After months of research, it recently concluded that marijuana is relatively benign, marijuana prohibition contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use. ROBERT SHARPE Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington, D.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom