Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI) Copyright: 2007 Madison Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.madison.com/wsj/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n457/a04.html Author: Dan A. Goldstein POT PROSECUTION FAILS LIKE PROHIBITION DID It is true that lessening the severity of Wisconsin's anti-marijuana statutes would be a useful first step toward creating a sensible drug policy. Nationally, billions of dollars are wasted and hundreds of thousands of people are arrested each year for the victimless crime of pot use. Realistically, there should be no penalties at all for responsible adult use of cannabis. Marijuana is probably the most benign substance to ever be criminalized by a government. In the 1920s, America engaged in a particularly disastrous effort to regulate the production, distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition fomented bloody turf wars between organized criminal gangs, which rushed to fill the lucrative illicit demand. Organized crime flourished and became an entrenched phenomenon in the U.S. Prohibition's spectacularly negative impact should serve as a warning that supposedly well-meaning efforts to control the use of a substance often have dire repercussions. In the case of marijuana, repercussions include the allocation of taxpayer dollars to persecute pot smokers and the suppression of a medicine widely recognized for its use in treating serious ailments. The war on pot has also led to a morally dubious "snitch culture" in which citizens are encouraged to inform on their neighbors. Dan A. Goldstein, Madison - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake